Midday report: Lukyanuk edges flying ERC youngsters

Lukyanuk was fastest on stages two and three in Latvia this morning and heads Gryazin by 5.2s with Rovanperä 3.0s behind Gryazin on his ERC debut in third.

“The feeling is getting better and better,” said Lukyanuk. “I’ve never driven on the Baltic roads in damp conditions. I’ve struggled a bit but the pace is good now and the car is so exciting to drive in these stages.”

Gryazin, 20 years old today and on top in the ERC Junior Under 28 division, was fastest on the opening test, 0.3s quicker than recently-turned-17-year-old Rovanperä, but found it hard to understand the grip levels in the damp conditions on SS2 before admitting to a cautious run in SS3. Rovanperä, meanwhile, has been struggling with no working handbrake on his Ford Fiesta R5, which he’s using in competition for the first time.

In the chase to win the ERC title, Kajetan Kajetanowicz, in fourth overall, holds a comfortable margin over Portugal’s Bruno Magalhães, who heads to service in Liepāja in ninth overall. If the order remains unchanged, Pole Kajetanowicz will become the first driver in ERC history to win the title three times in succession subject to confirmation of the results by the FIA.

Poland’s Łukasz Habaj is fifth despite suffering from a heavy cold. He’s 2.4s ahead of Spaniard Pepe López, who reckons his outright pace is being compromised by using a short-ratio gearbox on his Peugeot Rally Academy-run 208 T16. Team-mate José Suárez, currently eighth behind Jānis Vorobjovs, said his car had been hitting the rev-limiter. Germany’s Albert von Thurn und Taxis completes the top 10 behind Magalhães.

Latvian Vorobjovs, who is running first on the road, leads ERC2 with FIA World Rallycross Championship star Reinis Nitišs second and Sergey Remennik third. Tibor Érdi Jr is fourth, in place ahead of class title rival Zelindo Melegari, who lost time when he went off the road on SS3.

Jari Huttunen holds the all-important lead in the ERC Junior Under 27 category with title rivals Chris Ingram, Filip Mareš and Aleks Zawada third, fourth and seventh respectively. Zawada reached the end of SS3 with front-right damage on his hired Peugeot. Liepāja-based teenager Mārtiņš Sesks was quickest on SS1 and a mere 1.4s behind Huttunen having lost out to the ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team driver on SS2 and SS3.

Huttunen also leads the ERC3 category battle, which is continuing without Russian Artur Muradian, who went off the road on SS2.

Following the 30-minute service halt in Liepāja, the repeat of the OPTIBET 2 Kazdanga stage begins at 15h00 local time over a distance of 11.49 kilometres. The day concludes with two runs of the Liepāja City Stage from 18h25. ERC Radio’s live coverage of the event continues from 14h45. Clickherefor living timing.