Remembering when… Lukyanuk got ERC title hopes back on track with Roma win
ByERC
Published 15/07/2019 at 23:53 GMT
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AUTO - ERC RALLY DI ROMA 2018
Image credit: ERC
Alexey Lukyanuk resisted a late challenge from double FIA European Rally Championship winner Giandomenico Basso for victory on Rally di Roma Capitale (22 July 2018), securing his third win this season alongside co-driver Alexey Arnautov.
Basso had more than halved Lukyanuk’s lead in a single stage on Sunday afternoon, but ran out of competitive kilometres to catch the Russian Performance Motorsport driver, falling short by 7.5s.
Grzegorz Grzyb held two rivals at bay to secure a “dream” podium finish which far exceeded his own expectations for this rally. Ten-time Italian champion Paolo Andreucci had closed to within two seconds of Grzyb in fourth but crashed out.
His other challenger for a podium was ERC Junior Under 28 category winner Fabian Kreim. Keen to secure his first ever class win and vital points for his championship challenge, Kreim focused on reaching the finish while improving his confidence, happy to let Grzyb escape and finish fourth overall.
Bruno Magalhães was happier with his SEAJETS-backed ŠKODA Fabia R5’s performance and pace on Sunday than in Leg One. But the Portuguese could not make the progress he desired though, with one of two passes through Leg Two’s longest stage cancelled, he lacked opportunities to climb his way further up the classification and settled for fifth.
ERC Junior U28 runner-up Chris Ingram was a star performer on Sunday, scoring his first outright stage victory on SS13, shared with Basso on equal times. Ingram had started Sunday 50.9s behind ŠKODA junior driver Juuso Nordgren but made up all that time plus more, jumping to sixth overall with one stage remaining and demoting Nordgren to seventh.
Fredrik Åhlin was in good spirits, capturing a second consecutive ERC Junior U28 podium finish on his way to eighth overall. Like Ingram he had lost time with a puncture on Saturday but also with a driveshaft failure on Friday, overcoming both for a strong class finish.
Orhan Avcioğlu came agonisingly close to finishing in ninth, coming into the rally’s final stage with only 1.3s in hand over local entrant Marco Pollara. A botched handbake turn at a roundabout on Ostia’s rally-closing superspecial sent him into the barriers, costing him nearly seven seconds as he reversed out. Pollara seized on Avcioğlu’s error, taking advantage of his mistake to score ninth place on his ERC debut and demote Avcioğlu to P10.
The FIA RGT class was won by Raphaël Astier, who beat his Abarth 124 rivals Andrea Modanesi in second and Andrea Nucita in third. Astier secured victory despite being forced to nurse his car home with a broken differential through Sunday’s afternoon loop. Modanesi and Nucita had both retired on Saturday.
Grzegorz Grzyb held two rivals at bay to secure a “dream” podium finish which far exceeded his own expectations for this rally. Ten-time Italian champion Paolo Andreucci had closed to within two seconds of Grzyb in fourth but crashed out.
His other challenger for a podium was ERC Junior Under 28 category winner Fabian Kreim. Keen to secure his first ever class win and vital points for his championship challenge, Kreim focused on reaching the finish while improving his confidence, happy to let Grzyb escape and finish fourth overall.
Bruno Magalhães was happier with his SEAJETS-backed ŠKODA Fabia R5’s performance and pace on Sunday than in Leg One. But the Portuguese could not make the progress he desired though, with one of two passes through Leg Two’s longest stage cancelled, he lacked opportunities to climb his way further up the classification and settled for fifth.
ERC Junior U28 runner-up Chris Ingram was a star performer on Sunday, scoring his first outright stage victory on SS13, shared with Basso on equal times. Ingram had started Sunday 50.9s behind ŠKODA junior driver Juuso Nordgren but made up all that time plus more, jumping to sixth overall with one stage remaining and demoting Nordgren to seventh.
Fredrik Åhlin was in good spirits, capturing a second consecutive ERC Junior U28 podium finish on his way to eighth overall. Like Ingram he had lost time with a puncture on Saturday but also with a driveshaft failure on Friday, overcoming both for a strong class finish.
Orhan Avcioğlu came agonisingly close to finishing in ninth, coming into the rally’s final stage with only 1.3s in hand over local entrant Marco Pollara. A botched handbake turn at a roundabout on Ostia’s rally-closing superspecial sent him into the barriers, costing him nearly seven seconds as he reversed out. Pollara seized on Avcioğlu’s error, taking advantage of his mistake to score ninth place on his ERC debut and demote Avcioğlu to P10.
The FIA RGT class was won by Raphaël Astier, who beat his Abarth 124 rivals Andrea Modanesi in second and Andrea Nucita in third. Astier secured victory despite being forced to nurse his car home with a broken differential through Sunday’s afternoon loop. Modanesi and Nucita had both retired on Saturday.
The post Remembering when… Lukyanuk got ERC title hopes back on track with Roma win appeared first on FIA ERC | European Rally Championship.
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