The 24-year-old started the Junior WRC season’s
penultimate day in second position behind Norbert Maior, but already moved ahead
of the Romanian on the opening stage in the all-M-Sport Poland-prepared
Ford Fiesta Rally3 category.
It was a position Jürgenson looked destined to remain in going
into Sunday, only for disaster to strike on the last gravel stage of the day –
the second running of Aghii Theodori – when a stop to change a wheel saw him
lose more than three minutes.
This left the door wide open for his closest
title rival Taylor Gill, who had previously encountered a similar issue on
Friday before climbing back from 10th to third. However, the FIA
Rally Star winner from Australia could not capitalise, arriving to the stop
line of Aghii Theodori 2 crabbing badly with a damaged control arm and his
championship hopes in tatters with more than 16 minutes lost to Jürgenson.
The pairing were not the only drivers to suffer
setbacks on the legendary stages and, remarkably, Jürgenson still reached the end of the day in second, albeit over two
minutes behind Maior.
Victory here for Maior will mark a major
milestone in the reigning Junior ERC champion’s career, but even taking into
account the double points on offer at this final round of the season, lifting the Junior WRC trophy remains a mathematical longshot.
Despite suffering setbacks for a second consecutive
day, Ali Türkkan looked to be best-positioned to benefit should Jürgenson slip
up. For the second time in this rally, the Turkish driver was forced to pull over
with wheel issues, losing more than three minutes on the morning run of Aghii Theodori.
But with nearly the entire field suffering
similar issues, Türkkan moved back up into third position, before being forced to retire on the road section to Saturday night's super special closing stage with a damaged rear left wishbone.
This opened the door for Petr Borodin, who moved into third and is in line to claim his maiden Junior WRC podium.
Japan
Poland
Turkey