Ivan Ares leads the Canaries ahead of Fourmaux

There is only one imperative this Friday: choose your tires wisely. The sky of the Canaries wanted to play with the pilots during the first day of theERC. Under very changeable weather conditions between bright sun and pouring rain, the pilots had a lot of trouble getting things right, when it wasn't just by chance.

In this little game, the Spanish locals had a good nose. To everyone's surprise, Ivan Ares took the lead after the first nine stages of the rally driving the Hyundai i20 R5. If he won a special stage, he especially stood out for his consistency. After eight of the day's nine stages, the Iberian was ten seconds ahead of his compatriot Nil Solans in the Skoda Fabia, who had pocketed three stages in the morning before gradually falling back.

But until the end the weather interfered. So far 3rd at 16 seconds, Adrien fourmaux, associated with Renaud Jamoul, carried out the excellent operation of the afternoon and evening. Starting first in the superspecial, he benefited from a dry track while his opponents rode after the rain. As a result, the Frenchman took more than five seconds from the leader in 1,53 kilometers with his Ford Fiesta MkII. As a result, he is second overall, seven seconds behind. The Frenchman had previously won two stages in the afternoon to move back to the front, followed a little further back by Yoann Bonato-Benjamin Boulloud in the Citroën C3 R5.

However, with less than a minute left, the Frenchman was cursing his poor choice of tires during the second loop.

Nothing is lost for him, 4th at 39 seconds, unlike championship leader Alexey Lukyanuk who is ninth, 1'31 behind the leader. “I'm really upset by this weather, it rained during the last two stages, I couldn't do anything. “It sucks” reacted the Russian. After winning the first two scratches of the afternoon, he lost 1'10 in the next two.

And what about the other favorites? Andreas Mikkelsen is eleventh at 1'46 in the Skoda Fabia and Craig Breen fifteenth at 2'14 behind the wheel of his Hyundai.

Saturday, forecast to be much drier, could restore order to a somewhat crazy rally.

The general classification: