Mille Johansson is the new Junior WRC champion after a breathless final stage battle with Taylor Gill
Photography by M-Sport
Words by Alasdair Lindsay, Head of Digital Strategy
Mille Johansson secured the Junior WRC title at the Central European Rally season finale, after usurping arch rival Taylor Gill on the very last stage in stunning fashion.
CER offered double points to all participants so while Gill had a 16-point advantage on paper, in reality he still needed to best his rivals to clinch the Junior crown.
The Australian’s rally got off to a disastrous start when he ran wide and glanced a post in the darkness of Thursday’s second stage. That impact caused a puncture and damaged the right-rear of his Ford Fiesta Rally3, costing him over a minute and dropping him to seventh.
That initially handed the initiative to Johansson but a rapid pair of runs through the tricky Col de Jan test on Friday vaulted Ali Türkkan, who’d taken his first Junior win only two rounds ago on Acropolis Rally Greece, into the lead and a projected title-winning position by a single point after Friday’s stages.
Johansson’s task then became even harder when an off on Saturday’s opening stage cost him half a minute, putting him into the clutches of a rapidly recovering Gill. That was bad news for Türkkan: when Gill took second place away from Johansson, it demoted him from a title-winning position.
Türkkan had no option but to send it, but unfortunately he never made the finish
Another twist was delivered by a clerk of the course notification: Johansson had taken the virtual chicane on Saturday’s final stage too quickly, incurring a 14s penalty.
Türkkan’s only hope was to push on and amass as many stage win bonus points as possible. But he then crashed out of the rally’s penultimate stage, creating a winner-takes-all powerstage showdown between Gill and Johansson to determine the champion.
Gill had seven seconds in hand heading into the final stage, having dropped about five seconds on the first pass of Mühltal with a small mistake. Astonishingly, that gap was insufficient; Johansson won the powerstage by 8.6s, meaning his winning margin for the Junior WRC title was a mere 1.6s.
“Just to see the stage time at the end, it was such a relief,” Johansson told DirtFish. “To win the championship in this way is, for me, quite unique.
“Before the stage, a difference of seven seconds from being a world champion or not, I said: ‘OK, now we’re doing it and we’re doing it fully committed, so either we win the stage by at least seven seconds or we stay in the forest.’ [I am] lucky to be at the finish because we had some moments.”
Defeat was gutting for Gill, who misses out on a career-changing prize
Gill had declared before the rally began that victory was effectively essential for his quest to become a professional rally driver to continue. Failing to clinch the title means missing out on paid-for drives in WRC2 with M-Sport – the same prize fellow FIA Rally Star member Romet Jürgenson won a year earlier – and makes his job of progressing to the next level much harder.
“Pretty unbelievable to be honest,” Gill told DirtFish. “Of course we’ve been super consistent and five podiums out of five starts – and our lowest finish was the second place. So we can be really proud of that and pat ourselves on the back for that, but ultimately it wasn’t enough in the end.
“It hurts a lot to be honest. My whole life has been building up to this moment, especially the last three years with the Rally Star program. Everything, every day, every meal, every time I go to bed it’s always thinking and pushing towards the goal of winning this championship this year. So to fall 1.6 seconds short effectively is crazy.”
Kerem Kazaz completed the CER podium, fending off a late charge from Diego Domínguez for third place.
Eamonn Kelly had been mathematically in the running to contend for the title but retired on the very first stage of the rally, running wide into a bank and rolling his Fiesta.
Words:Alasdair Lindsay
Tags: Central European Rally, Central European Rally 2025, Junior WRC, Mille Johansson, Taylor Gill, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date October 19, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/10/4PtYuCP5-WRC_CER_25_M_JOHANSSON_1193-780x520.jpg October 19, 2025
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