Gill grabs Junior WRC lead as Saturday serves up more drama

The Australian hotshot languished a lowly eighth this morning after dropping around one minute nursing a rear left puncture through Päijälä, but a sublime afternoon drive saw him rise through the ranks and end the day with a 19.7sec lead.

Excluding championship leader Romet Jürgenson, who was ruled out of contention by a crash on Friday, Gill was the fastest Junior WRC driver on every stage but Päijälä 1. Early hopefuls Norbert Maior and Gerardo Rosselot both crashed and Gill climbed to second when Petr Borodin, who led on Friday, suffered front right tyre damage on the penultimate test.

A blistering run over the 32.98km of Ouninpohja pushed the FIA Rally Star driver past Ali Türkkan and into the lead as Tom Rensonnet completed the podium over one minute further back.

Borodin dropped to fourth but sits just 21.8sec adrift of the top three with four stages remaining on Sunday. Fabio Schwarz is on course to record his best-ever Junior WRC result in fifth, while Eamonn Kelly overcame a puncture to round out the top six in the M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally3 field.

Jürgenson, who hails from Estonia, made amends for his Friday retirement by taking fastest times on four of the day’s six stages – earning himself four Wolf Stage Win points in the process.