Isak Reiersen shines at home with first ERC stage wins at Royal Rally of Scandinavia

Hailing from Karlstad, Reiersen knows the roads of the Swedish ERC rally well. The 21-year-old Swede also has the speed to match – something he demonstrated on the opening two stages on Friday morning.

Reiersen set the fastest time on the opening stage, Grönlund, beating Norwegian driver Eyvind Brynildsen by just 0.1 seconds. It marked Reiersen’s first-ever stage win in the ERC.

On the following test, Värmskog, Reiersen was again the fastest. This time he edged out Norwegian Frank Tore Larsen by 1.3 seconds.

Driving a Škoda, Reiersen moved into the lead of the gravel rally held around his hometown, with a 0.5-second advantage over Brynildsen.

“I know what we can do. I just need to calm down and take the time to enjoy it as well. It’s been a dream to drive here and to take a stage win. It feels amazing,” Reiersen said.

“Now I just need to enjoy and relax.”

Brynildsen, running second overall, made a small mistake on the second stage of the day.

“I misjudged a junction and ran a bit wide. I had to slow down to avoid hitting anything,” he explained.

The battle at the top is extremely tight. Behind Reiersen, three Norwegian drivers – Brynildsen, Mads Østberg and Larsen – are all within 2.4 seconds of the lead.

Also in the mix are British driver Philip Allen (+6.1), Finland’s Roope Korhonen (+6.2) and Italian Andrea Mabellini (+6.7). Korhonen, currently sixth, has been struggling slightly with his car’s setup at the start of the rally.

“This stage was better than the previous one. I’m trying hard, but we could still be faster,” Korhonen said at the finish of the Värmskog stage.

Six more stages are scheduled on Friday at the Royal Rally of Scandinavia. The event concludes on Saturday.

Standings after SS3/17 at the Royal Rally of Scandinavia: