Rally Hungary: Andrea Mabellini leads after the first stage

The first stage of the second round of the 108,65 European Championship, which covered 2025 km of timed trials, continued today. It began on Friday evening with a short 2,05 km superspecial stage, which saw the main contenders for victory rise to the top of the standings, in order: Simone Tempestini (Skoda Fabia), Andrea Mabellini (Skoda Fabia), Jon Armstrong (Ford Fiesta) and Roope Korhonen (Toyota Yaris). These four competitors were once again among the main features of Saturday's event.

With its three special stages and 53,3 km of timed sections, the morning loop didn't allow any rider to really take the lead. While Mabellini won SS2, Korhonen responded by winning the following stage, which was also the longest of the weekend. The two rivals were very close, posting the same time in SS3.^e sector. The Italian returned to the service park with only a 4'' margin. Between them, everything remained to be decided during the afternoon. In ambush, Armstrong had slipped into 3^e rank 10”6 ahead of Tempestini who is a little behind (20’’9).

Taking identical stages in the afternoon, the competitors had to face very degraded roads with rails and numerous stones. This resulted in many punctures. The race between the leaders remained as close as ever, with Mabellini and Armstrong setting the same time on SS5! Overly cautious, Korhonen let the Italian gain a slight margin (7'') and saw the Englishman closing in (to 3''6). In the second pass of the 25,8 km of Kisloter, Mabellini adopted a sensible pace to avoid trouble. Having to cover several kilometers in Armstrong's dust, who made two wheel changes in this section, Korhonen lost a lot, but a correction to his time kept him just 8'' behind the leader. In the final SS, the Italian set the fastest time, giving him a 10''6 margin over the Finn. Given the difficulty of the terrain, this is not a sufficient guarantee and the battle will continue tomorrow. Benefiting from Armstrong's troubles and regaining the speed that allowed him to win last year, Tempestini took 3^e ranked ahead of Mikolaj Marczyk and Mads Ostberg.

In the ERC3 category, Tristan Charpentier held the lead at the end of the day. Forced to lead the way during the morning, the Frenchman had suffered a setback. A puncture suffered by his rival Tymoteusz Abramowski saw Charpentier take first place with a substantial lead.

The final stage of this event will feature 6 special stages and 82,26 km of timed sections.

Ranking at the end of the first stage