Suzuki driver Urmo Aava has moved into the lead of the Junior Championship after a carefully-controlled drive to second place on the Rallye Deutschland. P-G Andersson, who was forced to miss the fifth round of the series in Germany, is currently second in the Junior Championship: making it a Suzuki one-two at the top of the standings. Englishman James Wozencroft deputised for Andersson in Germany, and ran in the points before having to stop on the second day as a result of a broken wheel stud.

He re-started the final day under the super rally system, and set some promising times while building up more experience at the wheel of the Suzuki Swift Super 1600.

News from Urmo
Urmo Aava (2nd in JRC after SS19): "This rally was all about taking things carefully for me, particularly on the final day when it would have been so easy to throw all our hard work away. Now we can be very pleased with a job well done, which has given us the lead of the championship: our objective from the very first stage of the rally. It wasn't a perfect event for us, which is often the case when you are driving to a certain rhythm. We had a couple of overshoots and bounced off a hay bale but it was nothing serious. It's been a very difficult rally and I'm very pleased to get to the end."

News from James:
James Wozencroft (12th in JRC after SS19): "I'm very grateful to Suzuki for giving me this fantastic chance to gain experience of a world class event. I've enjoyed every minute. Right from the very start, my priority was to get to the finish safely and learn as much as possible. Had it not been for a problem with a wheel stud halfway through day two, I think we would have achieved that. But I still managed to drive all the stages and get to the end of the event, so it's mission accomplished. I'm very happy. "

News from Nobuhiro ‘Monster' Tajima,team principal:
"Germany is the most complicated asphalt event of the year and I would like to commend our drivers for getting through it safely and doing exactly what we asked, despite the difficult circumstances. As a result, Urmo has moved into a well-deserved lead of the championship, and with P-G in second we have a Suzuki one-two! I am also very pleased that we were able to give James this chance to gain some valuable experience, and he has clearly used the opportunity to the full. Well done to all!"

Junior Rally Championship classification after SS19,Rallye Deutschland:
1 Martin Prokop (Citroen C2 S1600) 3h52m26.9s
2 Urmo Aava (Suzuki Swift S1600) +49.5s
3 Conrad Rautenbach (Citroen C2 S1600) +2m15.9s
4 Aaron Burkart (Citroen C2 S1600) +4m24.1s
5 Jozef Beres (Renault Clio S1600) +8m49.6s
6 Jaan Molder (Suzuki Swift S1600) +9m22.4s
7 Yoann Bonato (Citroen C2 R2) +13m05.6s
8 Aigar Pars (Suzuki Swift S1600) +13m21.4s
12 James Wozencroft (Suzuki Swift S1600) +32m56.1s

Junior Rally Championship after Rallye Deutschland (round 5 of 7):
1 Urmo Aava (Suzuki) 32
2 P-G Andersson (Suzuki) 28
3 Patrick Sandell (Renault) 19
4 Jaan Molder (Suzuki) 17
5 Martin Prokop (Citroen) 16
6 Aaron Burkart (Citroen) 14
7 Josef Beres (Renault) 13
8 Conrad Rautenbach (Citroen) 11

The Estonian won the first two stages of the day, and he is now less than a minute off the class lead. Although his priority is to drive carefully, Urmo had a small scare on SS9 this morning when he clipped a hay bale and did some cosmetic damage to his Swift.

James Wozencroft, deputising for P-G Andersson, was sadly forced to retire with brakes and suspension damage on SS10, the notorious Panzerplatte, but he hopes to be back under the super rally system tomorrow in order to gain more experience.

News from Urmo
Urmo Aava (2nd in JRC after SS14): "I made a few changes to the set-up of the car, and it felt a lot better this morning, with less understeer. Unfortunately on SS9 I hit a hay bale, which did a little bit of damage but nothing serious. I'm still struggling for traction sometimes, so I'm not going to do anything that risks our chance of a solid points finish. I'm very happy to get through today with no real problems as it would have been easy to get a puncture and lose a lot of time. We've got more than two minutes to the person behind us, so there's no point in pushing too hard."

News from James:
James Wozencroft (retired, SS10): "Things were going according to plan and we started the day in a points-scoring position, which was great for our first time here. Unfortunately on SS10 we had a problem with a front wheel, which also caused damage to the suspension and brakes, so we were unable to continue. I'm not quite sure what happened, but we will find out at service. We've still taken plenty of experience from today, and I very much hope we can get out again tomorrow."

News from Nobuhiro ‘Monster' Tajima,team principal:
"Today was extremely difficult with all the Baumholder stages: maybe the most difficult day on asphalt all year. Although Urmo has continued to drive sensibly he has also set some fastest stage times, which proves the pace of our Swift here. I feel sorry for James, who had been doing an excellent job until he hit problems. There are still nearly 65 kilometres of stages tomorrow, so our drivers must stay concentrated."

Junior Rally Championship classification after SS14,Rallye Deutschland:
1 Martin Prokop (Citroen C2 S1600) 3h08m27.5s
2 Urmo Aava (Suzuki Swift S1600) +53.5s
3 Conrad Rautenbach (Citroen C2 S1600) +2m43.2s
4 Aaron Burkart (Citroen C2 S1600) +4m16.6s
5 Jan Molder (Suzuki Swift S1600) +8m23.4s
6 Yoann Bonato (Citroen C2 R2) +8m32.4s
7 Jozef Beres (Renault Clio S1600) +9m05.3s
8 Aigar Pars (Suzuki Swift S1600) +11m40.8s

Leg 1 At the end of the opening leg of the Rallye Deutschland,round five of this year's Junior Championship,Urmo Aava is in second - having deliberately steered clear of risks all day in order to maximise his chances of taking the series lead. James Wozencroft - on his Junior Championship debut in the Suzuki Swift Super 1600 - ends the day less than 30 seconds outside the points.

The Englishman used the tricky opening leg to acclimatise himself to the car and the notoriously variable road conditions,although he already has plenty of experience of Suzuki after claiming the British Super 1600 title last year in an Ignis. Despite some rain that made the stages slippery in the afternoon,both drivers had no major problems throughout the leg and their Suzuki Swifts were entirely reliable.

News from Urmo (2nd in JRC points table):
"I'm not taking any risks at all on this rally,but this cautious approach is not my usual driving style so it's not so easy. I think I was a lbit too careful in the morning and also I had a small overshoot at a junction that cost me 15 or 20 seconds. The afternoon was tricky,so I just concentrated on not making any more mistakes. I'm quite happy: there is still a very long way to go and we are in a good position to take advantage of any problems for our rivals. Our plan is to keep the pressure on but not compromise our chances of finishing the event."

News from James: (9th in JRC after SS6):
"The first time I drove the Swift Super 1600 was in the shakedown yesterday,so today has been a big learning curve! My absolute priority is to finish the rally and learn as much as I can from this fantastic opportunity. These roads are not at all easy and very different to the stages I have been used to,so I stuck to my plan all day. It is paying off already: I'm delighted to be so close to a points-scoring position. Now we need to continue making steady progress tomorrow."

News from Nobuhiro ‘Monster' Tajima,team principal:
"Both drivers have driven very sensibly in tricky conditions today,just as we asked of them. Under difficult circumstances they have shown a lot of maturity,which makes me very happy. Tomorrow will be the most difficult day of the rally,so it is vital that they remain concentrated in order to take advantage of the pace and the reliability that our Suzuki Swift has shown so far on these very complicated stages."

Junior Rally Championship classification after SS6,Rallye Deutschland:
1 Martin Prokop (Citroen C2 S1600) 1h22m28.5s
2 Urmo Aava (Suzuki Swift S1600) +1m00.6s
3 Conrad Rautenbach (Citroen C2 S1600) +2m06.1s
4 Aaron Burkart (Citroen C2 S1600) +3m39.2s
5 Patrik Sandell (Renault Clio R3) +4m04.3s
6 Yoann Bonato (Citroen C2 R2) +4m19.4s
7 Jozef Beres (Renault Clio S1600) +4m23.1s
8 Jaan Molder (Suzuki Swift S1600) +4m48.7s