Midday round-up: Sordo cuts Mikkelsen’s ERC Azores lead to 0.1s with volcano victory
ByERC
Published 18/09/2021 at 12:07 GMT
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Image credit: ERC
A sensational charge through the Sete Cidades volcano stage has allowed Dani Sordo to cut Andreas Mikkelsen’s slender advantage on the 55th Azores Rallye to a mere 0.1s after three stages of leg two.
Sordo (Team MRF Tyres Hyundai i20 R5) started Saturday’s deciding leg 4.0s ahead of his Norwegian rival (Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), but slipped to second place after SS8 following back-to-back stage wins by Mikkelsen.
Staring the iconic Sete Cidades 1.9s behind Mikkelsen, Sordo excelled on his first pass through the hugely demanding 24.01-kilometre test to outpace Mikkelsen by 1.8s and slash his overall advantage to 0.1s heading to the Grupo Marques superspecial.
“It’s a very tricky stage for the first time,” said Sordo. “It’s very slippery, I enjoyed it but with two passes having never been here before it was not easy. We are trying to fight but Andreas is very fast and also the others are really fast. I try to do my best but I try to take information for the tyres, develop the tyres and make them stronger.”
Mikkelsen said: “It was an amazing stage but it was quite slippery in there so I didn’t have a lot of grip. The tyre [compound] choice was probably not the best but it was okay.”
Ricardo Moura holds third place on his home round of the FIA European Rally Championship, but the 10-time Azorean champion wasn’t happy with this performance aboard his ARC Sport-run Škoda.
“I think it was mostly bad driving I was not clean on the line, not confident, not 100 per cent and that’s how it is,” Moura said following SS7.
After completing Sete Cidades with the fourth fastest time, Moura is 24.2s behind Mikkelsen.
“I made no mistake [in Sete Cidades]. We have too much movement on the car, especially on the drier section. We went with too soft tyres and the car was moving a lot. Here you need to be very precise, we did a good job, but the pros are getting a little in front of us. Of course, I would like to keep [third] position and improve my driving.”
Rallye Team Spain’s Efrén Llarena was third fastest through Sete Cidades, 2.1s slower than countryman Sordo, and is 12.8s adrift of Moura in fourth.
Miko Marczyk is up to fifth for ORLEN Team after Erik Cais retired his Yacco ACCR Team Ford Fiesta Rally2 on Sete Cidades with a damaged cooler. Umberto Scandola (Hyundai Rally Team Italia) is sixth followed by Luís Rego, Benito Guerra, Azorean championship leader Rafael Botelho and ERC2 pacesetter Javier Pardo.
Alexey Lukyanuk retired following SS7 after he ran out of spare tyres after damaging two covers during the run. Norbert Herczig retied his Škoda Rally Team Hungaria Fabia with damaged suspension following contact during the stage.
Jean-Baptiste Franceschi (Toksport WRT Renault Clio Rally4) leads ERC3, while Pep Bassas was unable to restart on day two due to damage following his crash on SS5.
SS10, Grupo Marques 2, is up next from 12h04 local time with service in Ponta Delgada from 13h19.
Useful resources:
ClickHEREfor the leg two start order
ClickHEREfor the itinerary
ClickHEREfor live timing
ClickHEREfor how to watch live
ClickHEREfor how to listen to ERC Radio
Staring the iconic Sete Cidades 1.9s behind Mikkelsen, Sordo excelled on his first pass through the hugely demanding 24.01-kilometre test to outpace Mikkelsen by 1.8s and slash his overall advantage to 0.1s heading to the Grupo Marques superspecial.
“It’s a very tricky stage for the first time,” said Sordo. “It’s very slippery, I enjoyed it but with two passes having never been here before it was not easy. We are trying to fight but Andreas is very fast and also the others are really fast. I try to do my best but I try to take information for the tyres, develop the tyres and make them stronger.”
Mikkelsen said: “It was an amazing stage but it was quite slippery in there so I didn’t have a lot of grip. The tyre [compound] choice was probably not the best but it was okay.”
Ricardo Moura holds third place on his home round of the FIA European Rally Championship, but the 10-time Azorean champion wasn’t happy with this performance aboard his ARC Sport-run Škoda.
“I think it was mostly bad driving I was not clean on the line, not confident, not 100 per cent and that’s how it is,” Moura said following SS7.
After completing Sete Cidades with the fourth fastest time, Moura is 24.2s behind Mikkelsen.
“I made no mistake [in Sete Cidades]. We have too much movement on the car, especially on the drier section. We went with too soft tyres and the car was moving a lot. Here you need to be very precise, we did a good job, but the pros are getting a little in front of us. Of course, I would like to keep [third] position and improve my driving.”
Rallye Team Spain’s Efrén Llarena was third fastest through Sete Cidades, 2.1s slower than countryman Sordo, and is 12.8s adrift of Moura in fourth.
Miko Marczyk is up to fifth for ORLEN Team after Erik Cais retired his Yacco ACCR Team Ford Fiesta Rally2 on Sete Cidades with a damaged cooler. Umberto Scandola (Hyundai Rally Team Italia) is sixth followed by Luís Rego, Benito Guerra, Azorean championship leader Rafael Botelho and ERC2 pacesetter Javier Pardo.
Alexey Lukyanuk retired following SS7 after he ran out of spare tyres after damaging two covers during the run. Norbert Herczig retied his Škoda Rally Team Hungaria Fabia with damaged suspension following contact during the stage.
Jean-Baptiste Franceschi (Toksport WRT Renault Clio Rally4) leads ERC3, while Pep Bassas was unable to restart on day two due to damage following his crash on SS5.
SS10, Grupo Marques 2, is up next from 12h04 local time with service in Ponta Delgada from 13h19.
Useful resources:
ClickHEREfor the leg two start order
ClickHEREfor the itinerary
ClickHEREfor live timing
ClickHEREfor how to watch live
ClickHEREfor how to listen to ERC Radio
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