Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka (Skoda Fabia R5) finished the World Rally Championship of Finland in 45th place. In their second participation in a World Championship the young duo managed to complete the course. On Friday a beginner’s mistake made a good result impossible, however this was not the weekend’s aim. Building up experience at the highest level was in fact the goal and here Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka succeeded.
A 45th place overall and an 8th in WRC2 was the Finnish outcome for Grégoire Munster. On Friday morning following a good start the duo slid off the road at a slow pace in the fourth stage. “In a right hand bend some 500 metres from the finish I went off at a mere 40 km/h straight into a ditch. The car was pretty well embedded. There were no spectators on hand when it happened. With our own force we tried to get the car out of the ditch, without success. Once the stage was over I was finally assisted by spectators on their way to the finish line. I was out in no time. Luckily the car was not damaged. Louis and I then drove to the assistance area where they replaced the clutch and gearbox.”
With fresh courage the duo kicked off on Saturday with as aim to continue building on their learning curve. Unfortunately, Lady Luck was not on their side. “Following a hard landing on a stone we damaged a wishbone and driveshaft. Some 3 km from the finish we were obliged to replace the wishbone and completed SS 14 and 15 with only three driveshafts. Once back at the assistance area the team provided me once again with a car allowing us to experience a faultless Saturday afternoon.”
The more the event progressed the more Grégoire Munster found himself at ease on the fast, challenging and at times technical course. On Sunday afternoon he parked his BMA Skoda Fabia intact in the parc fermé. “I can look back on the event with a good feeling. Our intention was to finish the rally and we succeeded in doing that. It’s only unfortunate that we needed to fall-back on the super rally. Regardless of the result, which was not a priority, on Friday due to our own fault we lost out on some 80 competitive kilometres. That’s a great pity. These last few days we took our time to learn. Trust in the car went in a crescendo. In my first competition with a four-wheel-drive car I got to understand the car ever better as the kilometres flew by. I reckon I have proved that I’m not that far off the pace that I had hoped for prior to the event. At the start of the rally my times per kilometre were some 2 secs slower than those of Rovanperä. Near the end of the rally we were able to reduce the difference to near on one second. I’m pretty delighted with that.”
Next week Grégoire Munster will be competing in the Rally of Sullingen at the wheel of the Opel Adam Cup. One week later the final round of the European Championship is on the programme, namely the Barum Rally
