Creighton in control in Greece

William Creighton made a triumphant return on Saturday taking the opening stage win on Saturday morning while his championship rivals struggled.
 
The story of the morning was Lauren Pellier’s transmission failure that turned the tide in the title fight in favour of Creighton and Dominguez. 
 
With Pellier’s demise the door was open for Dominguez, but an intermittent power steering issue would halt any possibilities of fastest stage times in the morning as Creighton notched up another Wolf Stage Win Point on stage eight. 
 
A hectic morning put Creighton back into championship contention with Dominguez still provisionally leading the championship by the smallest of margins.
 
The afternoon would see more drama for the Juniors as Creighton dropped over two minutes to Dominguez with a puncture on stage 10, the same fate would see third position slip from Rensonnet as he also punctured on the same stage. 
 
As crews picked up problems across Greece’s rough and unforgiving roads, Dominguez stayed cool picking up another stage win on stage 10, holding a comfortable two-minute advantage over Eamonn Kelly.
 
Stage 11 saw another plot point in the title fight develop as Creighton won the stage and passed Pellier in the classification, earning an additional five provisional points. It gave Creighton a provisional one-point lead over Dominguez as the odds were slowly turning in his favour.
 
Fired up after another top-three time on stage 10, Hamza Anwar did his utmost to continue his impressive pace which calm to an abrupt halt after rolling on stage 11, bringing his rally to a premature end.
 
One stage remained and with the retirement of Anwar, Creighton climbed another position elevating his provisional championship position which was mathematically unbeatable. Undeterred, Dominguez fought through more trouble to claim a hard earned Wolf Stage Win Point to end the day with a healthy three-minute advantage over Eamonn Kelly but on the back foot in the championship.
 
Maciej Woda, FIA Junior WRC Championship Manager, said: “First of all I just want to say how sorry I am for Laurent’s transmission problems this morning that meant he could not continue today. I wanted to see this fight go all the way between all three drivers but sadly the conditions and difficulty of this rally have lived up to their brutal nature. Diego and William have both put in exceptional performances today, with William doing exactly what was needed to get control of the championship again and it looks like the ball is now very much in his court. I’d like to also give a special mention to Hamza Anwar too, who has been pushing and trying hard all weekend to earn his maiden stage win and deliver a top-three finish. His rally hasn’t ended how he wanted but he has earned my respect for his determination and strong will.”