Round three of the Russian Rally Championship, “Rally Russia” was held from July 9th-11th, and was also a round of the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge). Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica’s Swedish driver Patrik Flodin in the latest model Subaru Impreza WRX STi finished the event 4th overall, and also won the national championship category.

The event featured a total 184.97kms competitive’ running. Flodin’s main rival in the series, Alexander Zheludev lagged behind Patrik by more than half a minute due to a problem with his engine in the early part of the rally. Eventually he was to withdraw from the event. However Flodin also had some bad luck with broken power steering, which caused him to slow. After fixing the problem, Flodin regained his speed. Among the many S2000 machines of the IRC contenders, Flodin even set a couple of 3rd-fastest times before finishing an impressive 4th overall, in what was also his third victory in the national category this season.

After taking three victories from the first three rounds of his national championship already this year, all he has to do now to secure the title is score second in each of the remaining events.

The next round of the Russian Rally Championship, Round 4’s “South Ural” rally takes place from August 7th-8th.