Azores – The very beautiful operation of Dani Sordo

After the first loop dominated at the start of the afternoon by Ricardo Moura, Rally d'Azores resumed for the last three special stages of the day. Still on a slippery road, the best time of the fourth SS was achieved by Andreas Mikkelsen (16'44), at the wheel of his Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. The championship leader raises his head after a complicated first loop. The Norwegian is ahead of Alexey Lukyanuk (+1 second) and Ricardo Moura (+14″8). The two Spanish drivers, Dani Sordo (17'00″1) and Efren Llarena (17'04'02) complete the Top5 of this fourth SS of the Azores rally. 

Due to a windshield wiper problem for two kilometers, Ricardo Moura could only do better than 6th during this fifth SS. The Portuguese is 22″7 seconds behind the winner of the special, Dani Sordo (18’06″05). Andreas Mikkelsen continues to make up ground in the general classification of the rally by finishing in second place (+4″3), ahead of Efren Llarena (8″2). Due to Josep Bassas' accident, the end of the stage was interrupted. 

Ooooh, Pep Bassas._.
Crew OK#ERC3 #FIAERC #AzoresRally pic.twitter.com/D6KAQlX9Jt

— European Rally Championship (@FIAERC) September 17, 2021

Andreas Mikkelsen will win the last special of the day, and achieve his second scratch in the second loop. This allows him to climb to second place in the general classification of this rally, behind the Spaniard Dani Sordo. Despite being a solid leader after the first loop, Ricardo Moura fell to third place. The fault of the last two ES where the Portuguese could not do better than a sixth and an eleventh position. At the end of this first day, the gap between the first three drivers is only 4″5. The seventh special will take place tomorrow at 11:28 a.m. 

The Top 10 after the second loop of the day.