ERC Junior López: Rallies can be tricky

López was in a close battle with Peugeot Rally Academy team-mate and fellow Spaniard José Suárez when he crashed into retirement on the day’s opening stage.

“This is how tricky the rallies can be,” he said. “You go through lots of dangerous corners without problem, but then in a slow one it can happen the unexpected. We hit a stake that was inside a corner, broke the steering and we run straight off the road, falling in the ditch and rolling over several times. I’m sorry for the team. They did such a great job I wanted to aim high in this race.”

While López suffered a premature exit, Suárez finished second behind Nikolay Gryazin to secure third place in the final standings behind the Russian.