Asphalt aces aim to rein in Pärn
Drive DMACK leader Sander Pärn faces toughest challenge in Germany
Clever Cave wins Trophy thriller
Tom Cave halted runaway leader Sander Pärn’s Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy victory run after a clever performance on round four at ADAC Rallye Deutschland.
His victory ended Pärn’s three-rally winning streak and came after a final-day twist when leader Yeray Lemes was sidelined with mechanical problems. The Briton capitalised to win the three-day event by 3min 17.1sec in a Ford Fiesta R2.
Estonian Pärn finished second and leads Cave by 29 points ahead of October’s final round in Spain.
“It feels really good to win on my first time in Germany,” said Cave. “It’s a shame for Yeray but you can never give up and we kept pushing to make sure we were always in with a chance. I can’t wait for Spain. I was happy with my pace on Tarmac and I’ll definitely take the fight to Sander.”
The switch from gravel to German asphalt brought the experienced Tarmac drivers to the fore. Quentin Gilbert was the early pace-setter but he slipped off the road in Friday afternoon’s muddy conditions and was stranded in a field.
Spaniard Lemes then dominated to score eight stage wins but retired on the liaison section after stage 15 with alternator problems.
Despite rolling on the unforgiving Panzerplatte military stage and dropping three minutes, Belgium’s Ghislain de Mevius used his asphalt knowledge to take a second podium of the season.
Pole Szymon Kornicki finished fourth, with Max Vatanen and Nicolas Amiouni completing the top six.
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