Russian driver Alexey Lukyanuk, co-driven by Alexey Arnautov in a Ford Fiesta R5, drove flawlessly on the last day of the CNP Asfalistiki Cyprus Rally, last round of the 2016 European Rally Championship (ERC), to finish the event 2 minutes and 12.2 seconds ahead of second placed Marijan Griebel of Germany, the ERC Junior champion driving an R5 car for the first time and impressing with his speed and consistency.
With just two points separating them on the ERC leaderboard at the start of the event, speedy young Latvian Ralfs Sirmacis had hoped to overhaul Lukyanuk to snatch the runner-up slot in the championship, but the Russian never gave him the chance. Despite clocking fastest on two of the early stages, he had to settle for third overall, although he did collect €15,000 for beating Griebel by 2.1 seconds on the Love Cyprus big money last stage.
“It was really, really good” said Griebel at the end of the event, thrilled with a podium on his maiden drive in the Skoda Fabia R5.
Hungary’s David Botka finished fourth in his Citroen DS3, fifty three seconds ahead of top-placed Cypriot Christos Demosthenous, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, who won the ERC2 category for the third year in a row. The top ten was rounded off by five more Cypriot drivers.
The four Ford Fiesta R2s of Castrol Ford Team Turkiye all reached the finish, headed by Murat Bostanci in 14th place overall. He won the 2-wheel-drive category (and €7,000 for being the fastest 2WD car on the Love Cyprus Golden Stage), with his team-mate and compatriot Bugra Banaz finishing second in the 2WD class – and collecting €3,000 for second fastest 2WD on the last stage.
Having led from the start on Friday, Lukyanuk was fastest on all but two of the rally’s 13 special stages. There should have been 14 stages, but SS 13 was cancelled on Sunday morning for safety reasons because local farmers were in the stage. The crews were taken by an alternative route to the last stage at Pervolia, and so the prize money offered by the CTO for the Love Cyprus Golden stage, which was originally to be given to the drivers with the best amalgamated time for the last two stages, was awarded to the winner of the last stage, which was Lukyanuk, who went home with €25,000 for the stage win from the CTO, plus €7,000 from Eurosport Events for winning the rally.
“It was a really tough rally for us, but it’s great for the season” said Lukyanuk. “We showed really good speed on different surfaces”.
47 crews made it back for the Finish ceremony and prize giving this afternoon (Sunday) in front of enthusiastic fans gathered by the Molos on Limassol seafront.
Provisional Results:
1 LUKYANUK A. 2:06:55.9
2 GRIEBEL M. 2:09:08.1
3 SIRMACIS R. 2:09:51.9
4 BOTKA D. 2:13:16.1
5 DEMOSTHENOUS C. 2:14:09.1
6 CHIPS JUNIOR 2:16:09.0
7 ZENONOS C. 2:16:19.3
8 SAVVA S. 2:19:27.7
9 POSEDIAS M. 2:21:19.2
10 ANTONIOU S. 2:22:21.5
