Jakub Matulka came through a shortened final leg of JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion with a maiden victory in the Rally3-based FIA ERC3 category as Filip Kohn secured championship honours.
But when Kelly crashed on SS12, leading to another stage cancellation, Matulka moved in front and came home with a winning margin of 1min 25.7sec ahead of series rookie Michał Chorbiński.
As well as elevating Matulka to first place, Kelly’s unfortunate exit promoted Kohn from fourth to the all-important third he needed to add the ERC3 title to the ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy crown he won on Barum Czech Rally Zlín last month.
Of his provisional title triumph, Czech Kohn said: “We don’t have much time or budget to go to Poland [for the final round] so we had to get it done here. There was much pressure from that side so we really wanted to push for that third place today and being the European champion is a great title and I think it will help for the next seasons.”
Runner-up Chorbiński, who received a late call-up to replace the ill Igor Widłak, impressed on his Rally3 debut in second place, 3.0sec ahead of Kohn. He said: “It’s great to be on the finish line, even better to be on the podium. I’m very pleased and happy to finish the rally like this, I’m just so, so happy.”
The all-asphalt Rally Silesa in Poland brings the curtain down on the 2024 ERC3 season from 11 – 13 October.
Rally Results:
01: J. Matulka/D. Dymurski (Ford Fiesta Rally3) – 1h 47m 27.5sec
02: M. Chorbinski/M. Marczewski (Ford FIesta Rally3 + 1m 25.7sec
03: F. Kohn/T. Woodburn (Ford Fiesta Rally3) + 1m 28.7sec
* Photos by Red Bull Content Pool