ERC Junior Larsen positive despite off

Larsen, who is co-driven by Torstein Eriksen, was fifth in the ERC Junior Under 28 category when a crash on stage 11 put him out on the spot and caused a delay to the remainder of the rally after his Ford Fiesta R5 inadvertently blocked the road.

“We were too fast, missed the line into a left-hander and hit a tree with our front-right corner of the car,” Larsen explained. “We were okay but the rally was over. Before that we done a quite good, steady rally. We were punished a bit on Friday with the road position and you can see the difference in speed from the first to the second loop. I would have liked to have been faster but what can we do?”

Larsen continued: “I said to Torstein after the second Sete Cidades stage that this was worth the trip from Norway down here to do that stage in that fashion. We had to enjoy it because we have worked so hard just to be here.”

“Even though we would like to have been fighting in the top five, we had to take a breath and enjoy what we’re experiencing because this is something you get to do only a few times in your lifetime. I wanted to get to the finish and get some experience because I hadn’t been driving in four or five months and I felt I am a bit rusty. We will be back even stronger.”