Gryazin still going but more trouble brewing on ERC Cyprus Rally

However, a gearbox issue on his Sports Racing Technologies ŠKODA Fabia R5 looks set to force his exit from Saturday’s leg after he lost more than 18 minutes stranded on the opening stage of the afternoon.

“In the first stage [of the afternoon] it was really crazy before the Tarmac part,” the Russian teenager explained. “After a big jump and much dust we saw an alarm that we had too much water temperature. We stopped thinking it was the finish because we saw the oil but it was not oil, it was okay. After we changed a front-left puncture, tried to start the engine and drove on stage mode to the end. We clean the radiator and everything was okay. This stage was okay but we cannot make anything because the car is looked in first gear.”

Should Gryazin retire from leg one, he hopes to return for Sunday’s closing loop of six stages when he will try to chase success on Love Cyprus Golden Stage 1 and 2, which carry top prize of 10,000 euros for the combined winner.

Photo:Chris Rawes