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Deflating weekend for Mohan in Finland
Conor Mohan and Eamonn Kelly were competing in Secto Rally Finland last
weekend, which was the latest round of the Junior World Rally Championship.
The 306 km gravel surface event began Thursday evening with the 3.48km
super special stage Harju 1, where Eamonn and Conor missed out on the stage
win by just 0.6 seconds.
Friday morning was to be the first full day of rallying but unfortunately for the
two lads, special stage two and three were both cancelled for the Juniors. Their
event restarted on SS4, but a torrential downpour came which caused Conor and
Eamonn to slow down considerably as they had very poor visibility and
confidence to drive hard over the 15.51km stage.
Midday service took place after SS5 and at the service the men were sitting 9 th
overall (OA), 43.8s down on 1 st , a majority of that 43.8s deficit caused by the
heavy downpour on SS4.
On SS6 they were denied a stage win by suffering a slow puncture. Despite the
puncture, their turn of pace jumped them four places and they now sat in 5 th OA,
34s down on 1 st . They went one better on SS7, setting the third fastest stage
time, which moved up to 4 th place OA. A second fastest stage time on SS8
reduced their deficit to 1 st to 27s. Friday’s stages ended after SS10 and Conor
and Eamonn still held 4 th OA overnight with a further six stages ahead on
Saturday and four on Sunday. Eamonn said at the end of the Friday “The day
started badly but ended really well, with a brace of top three stage times we hold
4 th overnight. Big thanks to Conor Mohan for keeping the show on the road”.
On SS12 Saturday morning they moved up to 3 rd place OA, just 19.9s off 1st at
this stage, pun intended…
One of the most legendary special stages in the world was up next, the 33km
stage of Ouninpohja, ran in its full length for the first time since 2017. At the
end of this stage, they moved up to 2 nd OA, just 8.5s down on 1 st , heading into
mid-day service. There was a blow for the team on SS15 when they picked up a
puncture not long after the stage start and with the stage being over 20km in
length they had no option but to stop and change it. This stoppage caused them
to drop to 7 th OA. They did climb to 6 th OA on the following stage before
service and the overnight halt. Despite Saturday’s puncture the team spirit
wasn’t deflated, again pun intended, so they kept battling on and finished the
opening stage on Sunday, 3 rd fastest. They along with the rest of the Junior field
were slowed near the end of the penultimate stage so the Juniors were given a
nominal stage time based on their speed up until the issue. Conor and Eamonn
were given the 3 rd fastest Junior stage time.
The puncture on Saturday cost them two and a half minutes so with only one
stage remaining, sitting in 6 th place OA, 2m 27s in arrears of 1 st , and 21.2s off
5 th , Conor and Eamonn took no risks on the final stage and took the car home in
6 th OA. On a positive note, they finished ahead of the brainiest person in South
Africa as Max Smart took his car home in 11 th OA. (word play intended).
The final round of the Junior World Rally Championship is the EKO Acropolis
Rally Greece, which takes place between the 5 th and 8 th of September. Conor and
Eamonn currently sit 9 th in the Championship after mechanical issues with their
car cost them good results on two of the four rounds held so far.