THE Cyprus Rally lived up to its reputation as one of the most gruelling events on the European Rally Championship (ERC) calendar, as leading contenders dropped out of the running like flies in Saturday’s drama-filled first leg.
Nasser al Attiyah brought all his experience of rallying in Cyprus to bear on this fourth round of the ERC championship, that is also a counter in the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).
The Qatari ace had said before the start that it was a tough event and he hoped his age and experience would assist in the battle with much younger competitors. He clocked just one second slower on the first stage than a storming Nikolay Gryazin, and it looked like a battle royal was underway.
Stage 2 at Lefkara was cancelled after Deniz Denner’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X suffered a broken gearbox and blocked the road. The crews went straight to stage 3 where Nasser stepped on the gas to pull up to the top of the leaderboard. Poland’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz was second fastest on the stage and moved up to second. Gryazin lost time in an encounter with a ditch and dropped to third.
Racing in the ERC3 category, Buǧra Banaz lost his hopes of top points here with a spectacular “off”; spectators helped him get the car back on the road, but it will be all but impossible to make up the ten minutes he lost.
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Championship leader Bruno Magalhães was lying sixth overall as the cars headed back for the Nicosia Super Special stage which was watched by thousands of fans on both sides of the Green Line.
Another fastest time on stage 4 meant al Attiyah arrived at the lunchtime halt 16.7 seconds ahead of the Pole; “it’s not enough” said the man who knows all too well that anything can happen on the Cyprus stages.
Sure enough, on Saturday afternoon, in soaring temperatures, it did.
Gryazin’s run of bad luck continued with radiator problems in stage five; he lost almost 20 minutes and dropped to 43rd place. He threw in the towel after stage 6 when gearbox problems meant his Škoda Fabia R5 was locked in first gear.
Antonín Tlusták also retired. The Czech was seventh overall at the midday regroup but a big impact on stage five broke the steering of his Škoda. Magalhães completed the stage but damaged his car. “It was a big impact in the ruts,” he said.
Stage 6 proved the undoing of Kajetanowicz, Magalhães and Murat Bostanci whose cars all went off a cliff at the same spot.
Former Cyprus Rally winner Charalambos Timotheou also retired on SS6. Alexandros Tsouloftas now led the Cypriot challenge – he was lying second overall, 2 minutes, 44 seconds behind the leader.
A puncture on stage 7 cost al Attiyah some time: he drove ten kilometres with a flat tyre, which took off the rear wing of his car. “We redesigned it,” he joked. He still held the lead, which he extended on the last stage of the day to arrive at the overnight halt with a comfortable 3 minute, 19 second cushion between himself and Tsouloftas, who was 21 seconds ahead of Panikos Polycarpou.
“I think I will push more tomorrow,” al Attiyah said, although Polykarpou, Demosthenous and Galatariotis can also be expected to do the same.
The secret in Cyprus is to judge how much to push, and where. Sunday’s battle will undoubtedly be between the Cypriot drivers lying in second to fifth position.
There are six stages on Sunday and the rally finishes in Ayia Napa at 6pm.
