Nordgren takes first ERC stage win in Acropolis

ŠKODA Motorsport’s junior talent, who previously won the Future Rally Star of Finland award also given to reigning ERC Junior Under 27 champion Jari Huttunen, made his ERC debut this weekend in a Wevers Sport-prepared Fabia R5. After setting two second-quickest times already, he topped the times in SS9.

Though his overall result was hampered by retiring on Saturday when three punctures on the rough gravel roads left him out of spare tyres, Nordgren was pleased to have something positive to take from his debut ERC weekend.

“We enjoyed the whole stage and enjoyed the time also so it was quite a good feeling,” he said.

“It’s always good to be quick.”

“We must enjoy now because it’s only a few stages left. The overall result is already messed up by yesterday’s mistakes, so now we just want to enjoy. The first one of the morning it was going quite well, and the second one we had to save the tyres again. Now we have new tyres in service, so let’s enjoy the last two [stages].”

With another appearance planned for later in the season, Nordgren hopes to put his learning experience in Acropolis to use for a better overall result next time out.

“At least it has been a big experience. We have a lot to learn, but also some things we couldn’t really affect which was also frustrating, but mainly I have to go through my own mistakes and learn a lot from this.”