Castoral and Wiman fastest. Cadeddu and Andersson share JRX wins
A flat tyre in the first lap of timed practice left Timur Timerzyanov angry and frustrated in 12th place. From there the only way back into the event is to nail a fast time in the first heat and in one of those breathtaking displays that are becoming the trademark of the Russian, he pushed his Citroën DS3 to its limits and posted a time 0.7s faster than Davey Jeanney to top the order and move himself back into play. Jeanney had been third in timed practice and went head-to-head with pace setter Tanner Foust and the inspired Jerome Grosset-Janin, driving cleanly to beat both and be second ahead of Foust, Liam Doran – who won a close duel with Michael De Keersmaecker, Grosset-Janin and François Duval who held of Stig-Olov Walfridson to begin his event with a race win in one of the earlier races. Ronny Scheveneels failed to come to the start for the first heat while Jos Jansen crashed off in the first corner, Frode Holte stopped after another tight first corner and Pavel Koutny spun off and was unable to rejoin.
Set Promotion boss Jussi Pinomäki promised some surprises from his young JRX graduates and Joni Wiman lived up to expectation, the young Finn delivering a beautifully clean drive to set fastest time by very nearly two-seconds. Ildar Rakhmatullin battled through the first corner of his race before breaking free for second fastest time ahead of René Münnich and Jussi-Petteri Leppihalme who had been fastest in timed practice. Clemens Meyer, third in timed practice was a notable casualty of the first heat a puncture following a first corner squeeze costing him a finish
Roman Castoral set the pace in TouringCar, the Czech running out faster than Anton Marklund and Pedro Bonnet, the latter winning a tough battle with Robin Larsson. Derel Tohill was a notable non-starter, the Irishman out of action since free practice with technical problems in his Fiesta.
Two of the four starters in the first JRX heat made it to the chequer, Firmin Cadeddu ahead of Magda Andersson. The same two also finished in the second heat, run at the end of the first day, this time Andersson ahead of the French boy. Ada Marie Hvaal started but failed to finish in the second heat while Kevin Hansen’s retirement from the first prevented him from starting heat two.
