ERC – Craig Breen ahead of Ketomaa and Delecour

Craig Breen started his first event in the best way in ERC at Rally Liepaja. The pilot of the Peugeot 207 S2000 won the qualifying stage, allowing him to choose his place first in the starting order. The reigning SWRC champion had the right strategy by winning the three stages of the day. However, his lead over his direct opponents remains small and the Irishman will have to maintain his pace to aim for victory.

Jari Ketomaa is only 6”4 behind the Peugeot driver and ends the day in a satisfactory second place. The Finn is pursued like his shadow by François Delecour who is only 12 seconds behind the provisional leader of the Latvian event. The French driver managed to set the second time of the SS3 (Ldz Cargo), more than 18km long, despite a door on his 207 S2000 which refused to close. “It was just impossible to close it, it opened at every turn, sometimes when I was in sixth grade. I rode for most of the special like that. »

Alexey Lukyanuk is in fourth place, 20 seconds behind the second 207 S2000 at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X which leads the Production category. The Lancer Evo X of Vytautas Svedas and Siim Plangi are the last drivers less than a minute behind the leader.

Stéphane Lefebvre leads the 2WD category at the wheel of the 208 R2 which is making its competition debut. The Frenchman has a ten-second lead over Immonen Risto's C2 R2 Max.