Lukasz Habaj takes advantage of Lukyanuk’s misstep

Lukasz Habaj offered himself an unexpected victory at Rally Azores (Portugal). While he was 40 seconds behind Alexey Lukyanuk (Citroën) two stages from the finish, the reigning champion suffered a puncture on the penultimate course. The damage caused to the braking system caused him to go off the road in the last SS.

Oh dear... @AlexeyLukyanuk went off in the last stage due to brake failure #FIAERC #AzoreRally

Picture: Tatiana Lima (poke @eWRCresults ) pic.twitter.com/hDCrNlV4Cc

— FIA ERC (@FIAERC) March 23, 2019

Le Polonais décroche ainsi sa première victoire en ERC pour un peu plus de 8 secondes d’avance sur Ricardo Moura. Le podium est monopolisé par Skoda avec la troisième place obtenue par Chris Ingram, le vainqueur de la catégorie ERC1 Junior, devant Bruno Magalhaes (Hyundai).

Pierre-Louis Loubet (Skoda) was in the fight for the podium at the start of the last stage contested in rainy conditions before having to give up due to a water pressure problem.

Unfortunately, it's game over for @PL_Loubet #FIAERC #AzoresRally pic.twitter.com/kTsBGCKmnz

— FIA ERC (@FIAERC) March 23, 2019

In ERC3, victory went to Spaniard Efrén Llarena on his Peugeot 208 R2.

Discover the report of the Azores Rally in issue 2209 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.