ERC Rally Islas Canarias midday round-up: Solans gains in the rain to head an all-Spanish 1-2

Solans, who is competing in the FIA European Rally Championship and on Rally Islas Canarias for the first time, was fastest on three out of four stages in his Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, while Ares set the pace on stage three in his Hyundai i20 R5.

“I didn’t expect the Tarmac to be as slippery as it was, we did the correct tyre choice, that’s true but we still need to improve on the car because I have been changing a lot of things on the set-up because we didn’t feel the grip,” said Solans. “It has been a very good morning but anything can change and we’ve just started. I’ve never been to this rally before but I have done a lot of work with my pacenotes and my pacenotes are so descriptive and with these circumstances it’s much easier I would say.”

Behind Ares, Adrien Fourmaux is third and the top ERC1 Junior runner in his M-Sport Ford World Rally Team-run Fiesta R5 MkII with Canary Islander Yeray Lemes fourth and Marijan Griebel a flying fifth for Saintéloc Junior Team. Driving a Citroën C3 R5, double ERC Junior champion Griebel was third fastest through SS3.

Erik Cais’ liking of wet or damp conditions has resulted in the Yacco ACCR Team driver holding sixth overall after four stages with Luis Monzón, Yoann Bonato, Alexey Lukyanuk and José Suárez completing the ERC top 10 followed by Oliver Solberg, who is battling Lukyanuk for the European championship crown.

Lukyanuk conceded his choice of dry-weather Pirelli covers for the wet conditions was the wrong call. “It’s hard and unpredictable and not enjoyable,” he said. “Mikkelsen started with the same [tyre choice] as we did and he’s slower so maybe we benefited [from starting P27 on the road]. But, of course, the weather was not what we were expecting. We had a perfect tactic but it didn’t pay off.”

Rallye Team Spain’s Pep Bassas has been on sensational form in his two-wheel-drive Peugeot 208 Rally4. As well as leading ERC3 and ERC3 Junior, Pirelli-equipped Bassas is P12 overall followed by Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Callum Devine, multiple Canary Island champion Enrique Cruz, Simone Tempestini and class rival Sindre Furuseth. Craig Breen is P17 for Team MRF Tyres with Ken Torn, Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Andreas Mikkelsen completing the top 20.

Mikkelsen, the Rally Hungary winner, explained his lack of pace in his Topp-Cars Rally Team Škoda Fabia. “Our slicks were quite a hard slick so it never got any temperature,” said the Norwegian. “If I went too fast around the corner I would just slide off and it felt super-slow so not much I could do. The decision is a lottery here and this is how it is. Hopefully we can get it right in the afternoon and catch some time.”

Dariusz Poloński heads the ERC2 and Abarth Rally Cup contingent with Tibor Érdi Jr on course for his third ERC2 title in second position, one place ahead of Zelindo Melegari (Alpine A110 RGT). Abarth Rally Cup title winner Andrea Mabellini’s ERC2 title hopes have been hampered by a break issue, however.

Grégoire Munster’s ERC1 Junior Championship bid has been hit hard by his choice of dry-weather tyres for the rain-affected opening loop. The Hyundai Junior Driver is currently destined to fall short in his pursuit of the title and the €100,000 grant on offer to the winner.

“It was really difficult to get the forecast for the weather conditions,” said the Luxembourg talent “We were the most aggressive with the tyre choice and it did not pay off. It was really difficult to get the grip actually. We did not find any for the four stages. Also, we were with the crossed tyre so the car was unbalanced. It was really difficult but now we will try to make it better for the next ones.”

Following service, Rally Islas Canarias resumes with the second running of the Valsequillo stage from 14h54 local time.

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