THE final round of the European Rally Championship (ERC), the CNP Asfalistiki Cyprus Rally, got under way Friday night on Limassol seafront, where crowds gathered in a carnival atmosphere to cheer the drivers on their way.
For the first time in several years, night stages are included in the route – and the crews left the fun in Limassol to tackle stages at Stavrovouni and Petrofani on their way back to the regroup in Nicosia.
Earlier in the day they had completed the qualifying stage at Ayios Sozomenous, and returned to Rally HQ to pick their starting numbers. Is was a trickier choice than usual as, generally speaking, the first to choose pick numbers at the bottom of the top dozen or so starters to ensure a cleaner road for the race, but with the two night stages looking like they would be run in calm weather conditions that could prove to be a problem if dust was hanging in the air – which is a nightmare when you are driving with rally spotlights.
Russian Alexey Lukyanuk clocked fastest on the qualifying stage and got first pick – and to the surprise of many he chose to run first on the road, but it could be an inspired move as a dust-free run might give him the edge for the rest of the event. His rival for the runner-up slot in the ERC, Latvian Ralfs Sirmacis, got the fifth pick, and with the number 2 slot still free he plumped for that, telling me that he thought the dust would slow him if he picked a lower starting number and was running behind slower drivers.
With just two points separating them on the ERC leaderboard, we can expect a battle royal between these two over the coming stages.
Greek driver Lambros Athanassoulas started third, followed by Cypriots Chris Demosthenous, Panikos Polykarpou and Costas Zenonos.
The Russian set the early pace, clocking fastest over the Stavrovouni stage, but Germany’s Marijan Griebel showed that he, too, meant business, finishing the stage just four seconds slower, despite having chosen to run tenth on the road. Demosthenous led the Cypriot charge, clocking third fastest, closely chased by Sirmacis’ compatriot Nikolay Gryazin and Hungary’s David Botka.
The second stage at Petrofani left no-one in any doubt that Lukyanuk meant to stamp his mark on the rally: another fastest time meant he arrived at the overnight halt almost half a minute ahead of Gryazin, who had blistered through the second stage to finish the first Leg in second place, just ahead of Griebel, with Demosthenous lying fourth, 53 seconds behind the race leader. Simos Galatariotis, whose fourth and fifth fastest times on the two stages set him up for an attack on today’s second Leg in fifth, was just two seconds adrift of his compatriot.
Sirmacis has over a minute to claw back from Lukyanuk if he wants to steal the runner up slot in the ERC championship, and can only be hoping that the Russian has problems in the next two days.
Polykarpou and Charalambous both retired before SS2.
The rally will finish in Limassol at 3pm on Sunday.
