JWRC leader Creighton "extremely happy" with Estonia points

Northern Ireland’s William Creighton says he can be satisfied that his all guns blazing approach on the penultimate round of the 2023 FIA Junior World Rally Championship with what could prove to be crucial points.

Jason Craig_1

24 Jul 2023

Across the three legs of last weekend’s Rally Estonia, Creighton set a blistering pace to chalk up 11 Wolf Stage wins and claim the bragging rights on the Power Stage by setting the quickest time.

After four rounds of the one-make series, the Moira driver is now 29 now points ahead of reigning FIA Junior European Rally champion Laurent Pellier and a further three clear of Diego Dominguez.

The fight for the top prize – a fully paid drive on four European World Rally Championship events in 2024 in a M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2, plus a tyre support package courtesy of Pirelli – will now be decided on September’s Acropolis Rally Greece where a total of seventy points will be on offer.

Creighton stood a mathematical chance of wrapping up the competition at his third attempt with Liam Regan in Estonia but those hopes were dashed midway through the opening day when he had to retire after bending the rear suspension on his Fiesta Rally3 on the re-run of ‘Peipsiaare’.

With the damage fixable, they re-joined the action on Saturday and Sunday under the Super Rally rule and went on a high-speed damage limitation exercise to keep their scoreboard ticking over.

“We can be extremely happy with the stage win points we have taken away from Rally Estonia,” reflected Creighton. “We pushed as hard as we could following our issue on Friday – it was a flat-out weekend thanks to Liam, M-Sport, and everyone in the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy.

“The stages were pretty rough after the P1 guys had gone through, so for us to attack as hard as we did through some deep ruts, and for the car to really stand up to the challenge, is impressive.

“Friday was obviously disappointing but we kept our heads and put in maximum effort until the end of the rally. We had the most number of stages wins, so we stay in the Championship lead.

“We tried to salvage what we could and I think to show the speed that we did, it gives me a lot of confidence after struggling to get on the pace there for the last couple of years, so I’m happy with what we have achieved,” added Creighton. “We now work towards Greece with lots of positivity.”

Gregoire Munster claimed a narrow but hard-fought victory on Rally Estonia in a fight that went down to the wire as he beat Pellier to become the ttthird different winner of 2023 after Creighton and Irishman Eamonn Kelly.