Yoann Bonato leader of the Canaries Rally

Le rally of the Canaries started last night in an original way. The special classic run in the suburbs of Las Palmas included something new this year with an incursion into a room usually dedicated to basketball. At the end of this exercise, which was widely appreciated and which trapped more than one (Efren Llarena, Antonio Suarez, etc.), Hayden Paddon, the championship leader, took the reins.

However, serious things really started today. A loop of three stages had to be run twice, i.e. approximately 88 km timed. The rain that fell in the morning left the road partially wet which proved to be a handicap for the first crews.

Starting in the lead, Yoann Bonato managed to limit the damage against competitors who had moved on a dry road 40 minutes later. The tricolor fell back to 14^e rank. He then took advantage of the following two special stages to catch up. Signing two best times and also benefiting from the penalties distributed to opponents who made mistakes in SS1, he moved into the leader's seat with a 5″0 lead over Andrea Nucita and 5″5 over a surprising novice Paddon. on this ground.

Adopting the same pace as during the morning, the Citroën crew added two best times to their list in the middle of the afternoon, building up a lead of 11s2 over the Hyundai by Hayden Paddon. The latter managed to reduce the gap a little by closing 0″2 in the final stretch of the day.

For his part, Mathieu Franceschi delivered several very interesting performances during this first stage. A moment penalized by 10 seconds for a stolen start, everything finally returned to normal and he finished Friday in 3rd position.

The battle between Bonato and Paddon will end tomorrow. To decide between them, they will still have 6 special stages and 99,46 km timed.

Ranking at the end of the first stage

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