Australian duo Taylor Gill and Daniel Brkic impressed on the world stage overnight, the pair securing a hard-fought Junior World Rally Championship win at Rally Finland.
 
Recording the resilient victory in the fourth outing of their rookie campaign, the former Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship regulars Gill and Brkic now sit second in the JWRC standings with one rally remaining to close the points deficit to their Estonian competitors, Romet Jürgenson and Siim Oja.
 
The Australians were challenged repeatedly over the Finnish Lakeland course, overcoming multiple technical issues and punctures to eventually take the top step with a 2.1-second buffer to Ali Türkkan and Burak Erdener of Turkey.

The victory marks the first time a Junior World Rally Championship round has been won by an Australian.
 
“I always believed that I could win the rally, right from the word go,” Gill said.
 
“But the fact that it actually happened, in such a rollercoaster of a way and so close to the finish, is such an amazing feeling – I think it will take a lot to top that.”


 
The first of their trials came on the Friday, with an engine issue followed shortly by a puncture plunging them down the order from first to sixth by the end of the day.
 
History repeated itself on the Saturday after a strong opening stage when a second puncture cost the pair another two places early in the day.
 
“I always believed, to be honest, that we were capable of winning the rally. We even led briefly on Friday – and at that I was thinking, ‘okay we can manage this through’ – but then with punctures and other things knocking us back, it was always looking more and more difficult, but we always had our eyes on the top spot,” he said. 
 
It was heads down for the remainder of the day as the Australian crew persevered to climb back up the order to third, their luck finally turning late in the day when the leaders suffered technical issues to gift them the lead ahead of Sunday.
 
With a 19-second lead on Sunday morning, Gill took a conservative approach to the final day in what would be a nail-biting finish that saw the lead whittled to just 4.2 seconds at the commencement of the final stage.
 
“I guess from when we got into the lead yesterday, that was probably the moment where I thought, ‘okay we can probably now start to relax into this’ but today was obviously tricky as well, and the pace wasn’t so good. I was struggling with the car and a few other little things like that, so that made it quite difficult,” he said.
 
Gill’s patience paid dividends, with a smooth run home securing the Australians their first Junior World Rally Championship win. 

The pair have been threatening to claim a victory since their Rally Sweden debut, a double puncture thwarting their Stage 4 lead in the season opener to finish eighth in the junior category.
 
Wasting no time, Gill and Brkic quickly stamped their authority on the competition with a second-place podium at Rally Croatia the following round. 
 
A sixth-place finish in Italy put the pair third in the standings ahead of the weekend’s rally, the victory now leaves them in striking distance of the Junior World Rally Championship with just eight points separating them from the leaders. 
 
Motorsport Australia CEO Sunil Vohra congratulated Gill and Brkic on their victory in Finland, highlighting the success of our local talent internationally. 
 
“On behalf of everyone at Motorsport Australia, we’re thrilled to congratulate Taylor and Daniel on their junior category win in Finland over the weekend,” Vohra said.
 
“We’re certain this will be the first of many victories for the pair and wish them the best of luck for their last Junior Championship Rally in Greece next month as they fight for the championship.

"We all saw what both Taylor and Daniel were capable of in their time in our own Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship so this win comes as no surprise and is richly deserved. 
 
“This is yet another example of our Australian talent shining on the world stage and shows a new generation of drivers what’s possible, both here at home and internationally.”
 
Gill and Brkic now set their sights on the final round of the Junior World Rally Championship in Greece, scheduled for 5-8 September.