Jan Solans was never headed during Saturday’s challenging stages in Britain to hold a hefty overnight lead in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship at Wales Rally GB.

The Spaniard, driving a Ford Fiesta R2, kept his nose clean whilst his rival hit trouble on the classic stages in Mid Wales. He eventually arrived back in Llandudno with a healthy 3m 24.4sec lead.

Solans had been locked in an intense battle with Swedish rival Tom Kristensson, however, a puncture followed by a messy wheel change in the Sweet Lamb Hafren speed test saw the Swede lose over three-minutes. Solans will be hoping to seal the championship victory tomorrow and follow in the footsteps of his older brother Nil, who won the coveted title in 2017.

Although his championship hopes were in tatters, Kristensson was feeling far from deflated at the end of the day’s action. He is still on course to claim the rookie award and with that comes 15,000 euros prize fund to support his JWRC campaign in 2020.

Dennis Radstrom restarted the day after going off the road on Friday. Although he was unable to be in the fight for the overall victory, he impressed with four stage wins on Saturday.

American driver Sean Johnston has plenty of breathing space in third place with Enrico Oldrati over 13 minutes further back. Despite an off-road excursion, Fabrizio Zaldivar rounds out the top five and Ryan Booth holds sixth on what is only his seventh ever rally.

British driver Tom Williams started Saturday in a promising fourth position but his home rally came to an abrupt end when he rolled his Fiesta R2 down a bank in Dyfi.

Head to WRC+ to watch All Live from Wales Rally GB, including every stage broadcast live, breaking service park news and expert studio analysis.

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