Gilbert lifts Junior crown with Corsica win

Quentin Gilbert is the FIA Junior WRC champion after claiming his fourth win in five rounds at the Tour de Corse – Rallye de France on Sunday.

Gilbert won the demanding three-day asphalt event in Corsica by 1min 18.8sec to secure the title in Citroën’s DS 3 R3-MAX with two rounds remaining.

“I’m very happy to win in Corsica and secure the title in my home event. We were quite careful at the beginning because conditions were really difficult. When the roads dried we were able to attack more on Saturday afternoon and today we just had to protect our lead,” he said.

“It has been an exceptional season and I’m already looking forward to next year,” added Gilbert, who wins a prize drive in WRC 2 in 2016.

Yohan Rossel led for the first four stages but brake problems and a puncture allowed Terry Folb to move ahead. However, Gilbert took control and Folb slipped to third with handling issues.

Rossel suffered more brake problems today and Folb overhauled his fellow Frenchman to take second place by 5.4sec. Ole Christian Veiby finished fourth, a further 30sec behind, to climb to second in the points standings with Jean-René Perry the only other finisher in fifth.

Pierre-Louis Loubet, Mohammed Al Mutawaa and Jean-Philippe Martin all crashed out today while Jordan Berfa retired from fifth with a broken gearbox.