Lauri Joona sixth in Croatia ERC-Rally

Lauri Joona's sixth place led Team MRF Tyres to the European Championship gold.

Photo: RedBull Content Pool

The final round of the European Rally Championship in Croatia was Lauri Joona's first tarmac rally of the season. The Sastamala-based driver entered the race as a Team MRF Tyres entry so the race was also Joona's first race on MRF tyres. Joona had three previous races on the Croatian hard surface.

The race which included ten special stages started a little tentatively but the feel of both the stages and the tyres improved as the race progressed. When the evening maintenance arrived, Joona and co-driver Kristian Temonen were in ninth place.

- A good and educational day in all respects. Challenging with lots of mowing areas and gravel on the road. The driving is improving all the time but there is still work to be done especially with downhill brakes, said Joona on Saturday.

Sunday's heavy rain made the conditions even more challenging. Many drivers fell victim to the conditions, so the most important thing was to make it to the finish line of the special stages.

- Sunday was as challenging as we suspected, when heavy rain hit. However, things have been improving all the time, even though it is the first time we are driving a Rally2-classified car on wet weather tires on asphalt. We still have to drive through the last section to be sure that we can bring the team points. Let's go with a good feeling, a challenging section ahead, said Joona before the last special stage.

Joona did what he promised, and in the final results Joona and Temonen were a great sixth, the best of the Team MRF Tyres drivers. At the finish line, we were able to celebrate both our own uphill performance and the team's European championship.

- It's great that we reached the finish line, that was our first goal. This way we were able to bring the team valuable points and the European championship. The conditions were quite challenging, but we gained valuable experience for the future. Thanks again to MRF and all partners for this opportunity!