Sierra Morena – Nikolay Gryazin untouchable in Spain

Contrary to what often happens in the tests, the 2^e Sunday's stage was longer than Saturday's. Divided into six special stages, a loop of three to be taken twice, the 6 km promised to be formidable. While wet sections remained present, the sun also allowed the competitors to ride in dry conditions. One of the difficulties of this round was the ridges that the cars drove through, dirtying the road surface with dirt.

This didn't bother Nikolay Gryazin at all. In his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, he controlled events, never giving the impression of forcing things. I was able to try different riding styles and everything worked " he explained upon arrival. The voluble Nikolay had reason to be happy since he had perfectly prepared the rally Canary Islands (April 23-26). As is often the case in ERC, it was a driver who should not have been competing in the entire championship who won. The entire podium was made up of competitors who were not interested in the title.

The battle for 2^e The gap could have been closer between Yoann Bonato and José Suarez, as they were only separated by 4 seconds at the start of the 9nd lap.^e stage. A puncture for the Spaniard on the opening stage immediately put an end to the duel. With an excellent pace, the Frenchman took two fastest times and secured another podium in the ERC, which was his goal at the start of the event. Forced to think about his national championship, Suarez was satisfied to finish 1^er Spanish and therefore to refuel. The mustachioed man is ahead of the first crews really interested in ERC points. 4^eMabellini confirmed his victory from last year in Poland by always staying in touch with the podium. The Italian was able to get back on track after a crash during the shakedown. Winner of the Power Stage, he is the one who made the best move in terms of the title ahead of the Pole Mikolaj Marczyk (5^e) and the Swede Mille Johansson (7^e). A little further on, Stéphane Lefebvre completed his “discovery” weekend by finishing in 9th place^e rank. While the Nordic player was undoubtedly hoping for better, he now has some ideas to work on and return even better in his next appearance.

In the other two categories, the battle was close for Frenchmen Tristan Charpentier and Florian Barral. They ultimately won in ERC3 with their Ford Fiesta Rally3. In the ERC Junior, Sergi Pérez won on his debut at this level.

The next round will take place on dirt in Hungary on May 9 and 11.

ERC – Rally Sierra Morena
General classification