How small mistake helped Åhlin to first ERC podium

Åhlin finished third overall and third in ERC Junior Under 28 – the category for young stars in R5 cars – after getting the better of Fabian Kreim in a final-stage showdown. The Swede, who was driving a ŠKODA Fabia R5 for CA1 Sport, revealed just how he managed to complete the Latvia podium.

“We made a small mistake in stage 11, where we went wide in a junction, so dropped some time,” the Swede explained. “It was actually quite good because I knew that going to the last [stage] we had to win or not win, there was no margin to play it safe. I went really, really hard. It was a good stage for sure, so [we’re] really happy.”

Despite his pedigree on gravel, Åhlin said afterwards that the result had exceeded his expectations.

“The last time I was on gravel was in May,” he said. “I'm unfortunately not doing much rallying this year and it took some time to get back into it. Both Nikolay [Gryazin] and Chris [Ingram] are really fast and it showed, especially as we couldn't keep up with them. But still, I'm really happy with third.”

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