Reigning FIA Junior WRC champion Romet Jürgenson claimed his maiden Probite British Rally Championship win on Saturday, storming to the Carlisle Stages victory in spectacular fashion across a dry and dusty Kielder Forest.
The Estonian M-Sport ace and co-driver Siim Oja set the fastest time on all but one stage to claim the win over round one victors William Creighton and Liam Regan, whilst Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop rounded out the podium positions.
Five tests in the daunting and unforgiving England and Scotland border stages were in store, but each of the 50 miles would be a gruelling prospect. With car-sized ditches and each stage ultra-high speed in nature, fortune would favour the brave with the BRC returning to the complex for the first time since 2019.
It would be the Ford driver who was quickest out of the blocks on the short, sharp opening test, taking his Pirelli-shod Fiesta Rally2 to an early lead over an impressive time from Max McRae. But Creighton dug deep in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, responding on the very next test to move out front by the tightest of margins, just 1.1s separated him from Jürgenson who was left languishing in the thick dust which was lingering on the warm and still Spring morning.
But Creighton wasn’t heading the leaderboard for long, as the Baltic driver responded perfectly on the first pass of Buck Fell to regain control – a position he would never relinquish. When Creighton overcooked a chicane on the penultimate test, it was Jürgenson’s chance to pounce – and pounce he did, going 12.9 seconds faster than anyone else, enabling him to manage his final stage pace and secure his maiden overall victory and his first BRC maximum score in the process.
