Tsouloftas to lead ERC crews into Azores Rallye stages
ByERC
Published 21/03/2019 at 14:25 GMT
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Image credit: ERC
FIA European Rally Championship ERC1 Junior contender Alexandros Tsouloftas will lead the ERC field into the first leg of action on Azores Rallye this week.
Taking part in today’s road order selection ceremony, Tsouloftas was the last driver to pick his road order position, having finished P15 on this morning’s Qualifying Stage aboard his Toksport-prepared ŠKODA Fabia R5.
Tsouloftas is taking on his first full ERC campaign this year, after appearances at both his home round of the championship in Cyprus and on the Acropolis Rally in the past two years. He scored his best ERC result of fourth place on the SEAJETS Acropolis Rally in 2017.
At the other end of the scale, Team OSCARO athlete Pierre-Louis Loubet – who also drives a Fabia –was first to pick his road order position and elected to start P15, an advantage he earned through winning the Qualifying Stage earlier.
With Azores Rallye’s roads covered in a top layer of loose gravel that is swept away by the first batch of cars coming through, running lower down the order is advantageous, providing more grip for the drivers in Loubet’s position.
“First of all, I’m really happy,” said Loubet of his Qualifying Stage effort. “We have a really good feeling with the car, so it was easy to push because I was confident.”
“For the rally, I hope to have a good result, but I don’t know the rally very well, so I just hope to be in a good position.”
Reigning ERC champion Alexey Lukyanuk will start one place ahead of Loubet as P14 on the road in his Saintéloc Racing Citroën C3 R5, with Tsouloftas’s ERC1 Junior team-mate Chris Ingram P13 in the order.
In all, the first 15 cars on the road for Leg One are in reverse order of their finishing position on the Qualifying Stage. That means ACCR Czech Rally Team’s Vojtěch Štajf will be the next car out after Tsouloftas, followed by ERC1 Junior pairing Pedro Almeida (ARC Sport) and Mattias Adielsson (Sweden National Team).
Leg One begins with the 11.4 kilometre Coroa da Mata test at 15h28 local time (17h28 CET) today. Thursday’s action features two stages and a superspecial in all, before a full set of seven further stages completing Leg One on Friday.
Tsouloftas is taking on his first full ERC campaign this year, after appearances at both his home round of the championship in Cyprus and on the Acropolis Rally in the past two years. He scored his best ERC result of fourth place on the SEAJETS Acropolis Rally in 2017.
At the other end of the scale, Team OSCARO athlete Pierre-Louis Loubet – who also drives a Fabia –was first to pick his road order position and elected to start P15, an advantage he earned through winning the Qualifying Stage earlier.
With Azores Rallye’s roads covered in a top layer of loose gravel that is swept away by the first batch of cars coming through, running lower down the order is advantageous, providing more grip for the drivers in Loubet’s position.
“First of all, I’m really happy,” said Loubet of his Qualifying Stage effort. “We have a really good feeling with the car, so it was easy to push because I was confident.”
“For the rally, I hope to have a good result, but I don’t know the rally very well, so I just hope to be in a good position.”
Reigning ERC champion Alexey Lukyanuk will start one place ahead of Loubet as P14 on the road in his Saintéloc Racing Citroën C3 R5, with Tsouloftas’s ERC1 Junior team-mate Chris Ingram P13 in the order.
In all, the first 15 cars on the road for Leg One are in reverse order of their finishing position on the Qualifying Stage. That means ACCR Czech Rally Team’s Vojtěch Štajf will be the next car out after Tsouloftas, followed by ERC1 Junior pairing Pedro Almeida (ARC Sport) and Mattias Adielsson (Sweden National Team).
Leg One begins with the 11.4 kilometre Coroa da Mata test at 15h28 local time (17h28 CET) today. Thursday’s action features two stages and a superspecial in all, before a full set of seven further stages completing Leg One on Friday.
The post Tsouloftas to lead ERC crews into Azores Rallye stages appeared first on FIA ERC | European Rally Championship.
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