Opel’s ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team is readying themselves for the next leg on the FIA ERC Junior Championship calendar, the SATA Rallye Acores in Portugal. Swedish Opel works driver Emil Bergkvist leads the series in points as it heads to the gravel surface rally, which is to be run on a group of islands about 1,400 km (869 miles) off the European coast.
Opel says the dirvers of its Adam R2 works racecar are “well prepared” for Rallye Acores. Bergkvist “started his career” on gravel rally courses at home in Sweden, and he and co-driver Joakim Sjöberg recently won their class at the gravel South Swedish Rally. A week later, his Opel teammate Marijan Griebel was poised for a podium position at the WRC leg in Portugal, but suffered a late-race puncture and was forced to retire.
The Rallye Acores is the third leg of the ERC Junior Championship and is the halfway point of the season. Bergkvist said the team is “optimistic we will again have a shout at the podium positions,” following testing for the 725.8 km (450 miles), 17-stage rally, with Griebel adding the pre-race tests were “very good preparation for the Azores.”
The SATA Rallye Acores is set to kick off on June 4, with the first leg being carried through to Friday. The second leg will start Saturday morning and is not scheduled to end until 7:00 p.m. later that night.
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