Things didn’t go the way of Opel’s Rallye Junior Team at the SATA Rallye Acores over the weekend, withone of the factory team’s two Adam R2 cars placing fourth and the other failing to finish.
Swedish duo Emil Bergkvist and co-driver Joakim Sjöberg were running in second in the third stage of the Portugese rally leg when their gearbox suffered a failure and was left with only first and second gear. This ruined any chance of a podium finish, but they were still able to cross the finish line fourth despite suffering a flat tire in the closing miles.
Things were more difficult for Marijan Griebel and co-driver Stefan Clemens. The pair was running in fourth heading into the final stage of the rally when an undisclosed defect put their Adam R2 out of the race. They were still able to pilot the car across the finish line, however it was unable to make it back to the staging area under its power, knocking it out of the final results.
“We had a lot of fun, we were full of confidence, up until then the ADAM R2 was fantastic,” said Griebel. “Everything would have been perfect. And then two kilometers before the finish line of the final stage, we lost power. We knew right away that we wouldn’t be able to make the 60 kilometers back to Ponta Delgada. So now we have to shake it off and keep fighting. We have a fast car that can compete on all surfaces and we have good drivers. This is what we want to prove again in Ypern.”
Now more than halfway through the FIA ERC Junior season, Opel’s ADAC Junior factory team will head to the asphalt Kenotek Ypres Rallye in West Flanders on june 25th to 27th.
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