European rally weekend: Victories for Loeb, Kristoffersson, Huttunen

Parallel to WRC event at Sardinia, several national rally championships took place in Europe the previous weekend, with some world-known drivers taking victories.

Sebastien Loeb, the nine-time world rally champion and current Hyundai Motorsport driver, skipped the Italian WRC round but he wasn’t free, participating at 34th Rallye Vosges, the fourth round of the French tarmac rally championship.

Navigated by Daniel Elena in the #19 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, Loeb takes the easy victory after ten special stages. He wasn’t eligible to score points so Yohan Rossel (Citroen C3 R5) took the victory in the championship classification, ahead of William Wagner (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) and Yoann Bonato (Citroen C3 R5). It’s interesting that young Wagner was driving for Sebastien Loeb Racing.

Johan Kristoffersson and his navigator Stig Rune Skjaermoen

Another world champion was successful at Gästabudstrofén rally, the third round of the Swedish rally championship. Johan Kristoffersson won the event in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, defeating closest rival Patrik Flodin (Škoda Fabia R5) by a minute. Mattias Monelius (Škoda Fabia R5) completed the podium.

In Finland, the Pohjanmaa Ralli was the fifth round of the Finnish rally championship. Hyundai junior driver Jari Huttunen took the dominant victory in a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, ahead of two Škoda drivers Teemu Asunmaa and Juha Salo.

In Germany, the 49th ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg was the third round of the German Rally Championship (DRM) and ADAC Rallye Masters. Fabian Kreim took the victory in a Škoda Fabua R5, ahead of Hermann Gassner Jr. in a Hyundai i20 R5.