By Rosie Ogden
Polish rally ace Kejatan Kajetanowicz drove flawlessly on the final day of the CNP ASFALISTIKI Cyprus Rally to extend his lead in the European Rally Championship (ERC), with just two events left on the calendar.
Although he finished first in the ERC category, the overall winner’s laurel was snatched from him on the penultimate special stage by a storming Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar.
The Pole had stamped his mark on the race from the outset, finishing the first Leg over two minutes ahead of second-placed Bruno Magalhães, and nearly five minutes in front of Russia’s Alexey Lukyanuk, who was lying third in the championship before Cyprus.
Although Lukyanuk had started well with a fastest time on the first special stage, power steering problems for the rest of Leg 1 put him out of contention for the podium, and Kajetanowicz pressed his advantage. With less than 100 competitive kilometres on Leg 2, Katja knew he could relax slightly and still maintain his ERC lead to the Larnaca finish.
Second into the overnight halt (in the ERC) was Portugal’s Bruno Magalhães in his Peugeot 208 T16, with Czech driver Jaromir Tarabus snapping at his heels, just 50 seconds behind. Frenchman Robert Consani’s Citroen DS3 R5 lay 4th, with Cypriot Christos Demosthenous rounding off the Top 5.
Lukyanuk had his power steering problems fixed overnight and set off on Sunday with steely determination to claw back lost time and move up from 8th place on the leaderboard. By the midday regroup he had climbed to fifth, but with just four stages left he had to hope that Jaromir Tarabus would make a mistake. He didn’t. An attacking drive by Consani, meanwhile, moved him up to third place on Stage 9, and he made sure he hung on there to the finish.
In the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) race, triple Cyprus Rally winner, and eight-time Middle East Rally Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar forged ahead from the start of the contest, clocking stage times almost equal to – and sometimes better than – the leading ERC drivers. At the end of the first day he had a comfortable two-minute, 46-second cushion between his Ford Fiesta RRC and a similar car driven by his compatriot Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, and was lying second in the overall rally standings.
Apart from a blip on Sunday’s first stage, the popular Qatari clocked the fastest time on all the other seven stages to arrive at the finish four minutes ahead of Al Kuwari – and seven seconds in front of Kajetanowicz, to seize the overall win – his fourth victory on the Cyprus Rally.
After an impressive first day, lead Cypriot challenger Christos Demosthenous started the second leg on Sunday lying 7th overall (fifth in the ERC race) in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, just 24.9 seconds ahead of Hungarian David Botka’s Evo IX. Botka began his attack right away, chipping away at the difference on the morning stages, and finally overhauling the Cypriot on stage 13 during the afternoon loop. By the time the cars reached the finish he had been relegated to a still creditable ninth overall, and eighth in the ERC race.
FINAL RESULTS:
1 MERC AL-ATTIYAH N. 2:08:38.4
2 ERC KAJETANOWICZ K. 2:08:45.4 +7.0
3 MERC AL-KUWARI A. 2:12:38.4 +4:00.0
4 ERC MAGALHAES B. 2:13:10.5 +4:32.1
5 ERC CONSANI R. 2:14:21.4 +5:43.0
6 ERC TARABUS J. 2:14:55.2 +6:16.8
7 ERC LUKYANUK A. 2:16:00.9 +7:22.5
8 ERC BOTKA D. 2:16:42.2 +8:03.8
9 ERC DEMOSTHENOUS C. 2:17:07.7 +8:29.3
ERC RESULTS:
1 KAJETANOWICZ/BARAN (POL) 52:22.8
2 MAGALHÃES/MAGALHÃES (PRT) 54:30.1
3 CONSANI (FRA)/VANNESTE (BEL)54:39.7
4 LUKYANUK/ARNAUTOV (RUS) 54:40.6
5 BUTVILAS (LTU)/HELLER (POL) 55:13.5
6 TARABUS/TRUNKÁT (CZE) 55:24.8
7 BOTKA/SZELES (HUN) 55:56.0
8 DEMOSTHENOUS/LAOS (CYP) 56:46.4
9 ZENONOS/DAMIANOU (CYP) 57:00.7
10 TLUSTÁK/KUCERA (CZE) 57:26.6
Special thanks to Emma Louise Charalambous for the photos.
