From the very first stage, Nikolay Gryazin (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) continued demonstrating his rapid pace from yesterday, jumping to the top of the leaderboard. Starting order played a significant role on the dusty gravel stages. With that, the lower starting positions of Craig Breen (Hyundai i20 R5) and Efren Llarena (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) became very beneficial.Llarena was ahead after the first two stages, but Breen found some pace after service and moved up to finish the day in second place, 10.6 seconds behind Gryazin, with Llarena being 24.3 seconds off the lead.
Last year’s champion Alexey Lukyanuk (Citroen C3 Rally2) is just one second behind Llarena in fourth, but WRC event winner Anreas Mikkelsen (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) earned a 1 minute penalty for an infringement in a time control, which dropped him down to eighth place. Without the penalty, he would have been in the top three. The drivers who slotted between Lukyanuk and Mikkelsen are yesterday’s qualifying stage winner Miko Marczyk (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo), German Fabian Kreim (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5), and Norwegian driver Ole Christian Veiby (Hyundai i20 R5).
Nikolay Gryazin: “I enjoyed my driving in the first stages, but was not happy with the grip. We had a strategy for the first stage, but were not sure if we could maintain speed and preserve tires through the whole stage. In the afternoon, I had a different tyre strategy, to maintain my position before tomorrow’s stages. This was a successful day – I am happy with my pace, despite the lack of grip. Tomorrow the grip should improve, and we will see the true pace of our competitors.”
Craig Breen: “Everything went well. During recce, we thought a bit about the upcoming WRC event. Overall, I am happy with how the day went, although the car is full of dust now. Tomorrow, everything will be a bit different as we will be starting along with the other top drivers.”
Efren Llarena: “SS5 was difficult. I thought that I had a flat tire, so I drove cautiously in the beginning, but the car is great and the setup is perfect. We lost some time at the beginning of the final stage as well, as the gravel was very soft. Overall, we have a good day. Let us see how it goes tomorrow.”
In ERC2 class, two Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X crews had a fantastic battle throughout the day. Hungarian Tibor Erdi managed to conclude the day on top, 14.8 seconds ahead of Dmitry Feofanov, while Latvian Ainārs Igaveņš (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) is currently fourth, 2 minutes and 46 seconds behind the leader.
Ainārs Igaveņš: “We have successfully finished day one of Rally Liepāja, here in the Talsi region. Today, we had four long and difficult special stages. I am very happy to be at the finish. We maintained third place in the first part of the day, but lost it on the last stage of the day. Tomorrow, the battle for a podium spot continues.”
Liepāja native Mārtiņš Sesks (Ford Fiesta Rally4) was a bit off pace in the first stages. At the end of day one, Sami Pajari (Ford Fiesta Rally4) is leading both ERC3 and ERC3 Junior classes, while Sesks, thanks to fantastic pace in the afternoon, has moved up to second place, just 14.2 seconds behind Pajari.
Mārtiņš Sesks: “The first stages were very fast and dusty. We had not gotten up to speed yet, but the event is long. I was not satisfied with my driving after the second stage, so I had to think about ways to improve my driving and increase the pace. We changed the setup a bit and the driving immediately improved. With that, we moved up from fourth to second place, despite still not driving at our best pace. We can do even better!”
Nikolay Gryazin / Konstantin Aleksandrov won the SC Grupa / Eurovia special prize for being the fastest crew on SS1 SC Grupa/Eurovia. Even though the margins became much smaller, Gryazin also came away with the best result on SS2 TALSI LOOKOUT, earning the Talsi special prize. SIXT special prize for the furthest jump on Strazde jump of SS2 TALSI LOOKOUT went to the crew of Jason Mitchell and Peter Ward. The Irish crew jumped his Ford Fiesta R5 an incredible 28 metres.
Meanwhile, Round 1 of the 2021 Latvian Rally Championship took place today with Nikolay Gryazin scoring four stage victories and securing a safe win with 2min 1sec lead over Estonian Raul Jeets ("Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo"). Dmitry Feofanov’s crew was third. Rallying restarts tomorrow, as saturday stages scheduled to host Round 2 of the Latvian Rally Championship.
Also today, Round 1 of the 2021 Latvian Rally Cup for Historic cars. The fastest among all was Normunds Otomers / Dāvis Arājs driving “Opel Askona” achieving dominant victory over Ēriks Kursišs / Agija Aļļe-Kursiša with “Rover 200”. The prized Top3 was concluded by Klāvs Danne / Rūdolfs Grahoļskis at the wheel of “LADA 2108”.
Full results of Rally Liepāja available at www.autorally.lv.
Rally Liepāja programmE
SATURDAY, JULY 3
09:00 SS 7 Neste 1 / (18,42km)
09:55 SS 8 Invest in Liepaja! / (12,01km)
10:45 SS 9 Liepāja 1 / (16,07km)
13:50 SS 10 Neste 2 / (18,42km)
14:50 SS 11 Canon Biznesa centrs Liepāja / (9,93 km)
15:25 SS 12 Liepāja 2 / (16,07km)
FIA European Rally Championship event Rally Liepāja is possible thanks to the support provided by the government of Latvia, rally city Liepāja, as well as Talsi region. Thanks to our sponsors Neste, Ramirent, and SC Grupa/Eurovia, as well as supporters Blue Shock Race, Canon Biznesa Centrs Liepāja, Fristads, Liepājas Olimpiskais Centrs, Liepājas Speciālā Ekonomiskā Zona, and Sixt. Informative support is provided by news media DELFI, and media partners Kurzemes Radio, Sporta Avīze, and Talsu Vēstis. We would also like to thank all Rally Liepāja friends: Flora, FN Serviss, Jānis Pūce, Lofbergs, Kokmuiža Celmlauzis, MB Grupa, Red Bull, SignTech, and Törley. Rally Liepāja is organized with the support of Aizpute, Durbe, Grobiņa, and Priekule region councils. A special thank you goes out to the Latvian Automobile Federation.
All news and information about Rally Liepāja is available online at www.lvrally.com, as well as on social media - Twitter @LVRally, Facebook /LVRally, draugiem.lv /lvrally, YouTube /RallyLiepāja, and Instagram /lvrally.
