WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

WRC2 CHAMPION 2022

Emil Lindholm Emil Lindholm

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Lindholm rose to a second place in WRC2 class of the World Rally Championship series

24 April 2023

Toksport WRT's Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen collected the third largest points in the WRC2 class from WRC Rally Croatia - thanks to which the Finnish duo rose to a second place in the World Championship points of the class.

Team GRX's Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen finished third in the WRC2 class of the World Rally Championship in Croatia. In the overall standings of the rally, the duo finished 11th.

The result was extremely good after Friday's problems. Just before the start of the second special stage of the rallythe cotter pin of the gear shift failed, the bolt fell out of place and the gearbox was left with the third gear on.

The Finnish duo, who were second in the WRC2 class at the time, lost 1:14.7 minutes due to the incident. After the special stage, Lindholm removed his car’s anti roll bar link from the front and fixed the gear shift using the link bolt. The bolt in question had the same diameter and with it the gear shift worked normally again, but Lindholm had to drive the next two special stages without an anti roll bar.

In the Power Stage Lindholm experienced new problems but was able to drive to third place and get one more point.

- About four kilometers from the start, the cable of the intercom came loose and Reeta (Hämäläinen) had to shout notes for the last ten kilometers. The intercom went completely silent.

- I didn't hear a single note, but I remembered part of the road — but not all of it. It was sad that we lost one place in the overall competition by a couple of seconds. I didn't take any risks based on my memory, because it was pointless to risk the upcoming championship points.

In the end, Lindholm was happy with his weekend.

- It was a quite a good event for us. After Friday's troubles our result was much better than we could have hoped and expected.

- Due to Craig's (Breen) passing away, it was not easy to go and drive this rally. He was on my mind the whole time. We all drove in Croatia in accordance to his family's wishes, honoring Craig's memory. I will always remember him for his huge passion for rallying. He was one of those drivers whose essence exuded passion for this sport, says Lindholm.

Final Results: WRC Rally Croatia, WRC2-class:
1. Yohan Rossel – Dunand Arnaud (F) Citroën C3 Rally2 2:58:45.6
2. Nikolai Gryazin – Konstantin Aleksandrov (ANA) Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 + 16.1
3. Emil Lindholm – Reeta Hämäläinen (FIN) Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 + 1:27.5
4. Adrien Fourmaux - Alexandre CORIA (F) Ford Fiesta Rally2 + 2:18.5
5. Sami Pajari – Enni Mälkönen (FIN) Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 + 2:26.6

WRC2-class standings after WRC Rally Croatia:
1. Yohan Rossel (F) Citroën 53
2. Emil Lindholm (FIN) Škoda 44
3. Oliver Solberg (SWE) Škoda 43
4. Nikolai Gryazin (ANA) Škoda 38
5. Gus Greensmith (GB) Škoda 37