Second would be good enough, says Breen’s boss Ducher
Craig Breen’s team boss says his star driver will settle for second place on Rally Liepāja-Ventspils if he’s not in touching distance after this morning’s loop of three stages.
Breen starts the final leg of the FIA European Rally Championship counter a little more than 12 seconds adrift of Saturday pacesetter Jari Ketomaa following an impressive performance on only his third winter rally.
“We never expected to win here because we know that the Ford is faster on the straight sections, 30kph faster than the 207 in fact,” said Peugeot Rally Academy-Saintéloc Team Manager Vincent Ducher. “It’s why yesterday we lost a lot of time and we will see today during the first loop if he can catch him or not. If we cannot catch Ketomaa on the first loop we will finish the rally like that because to finish second is better than nothing. The championship is long.”
The Peugeot Rally Academy-Saintéloc operation is also responsible for running flying French youngster Stéphane Lefebvre in the ERC 2WD Championship. The 20-year-old, who is giving Peugeot’s 208 R2 its ERC debut, currently tops the category ahead of Finn Risto Immonen.
Sunday’s action begins with the second run of Ventbunkers at 08:30hrs local time.
Organisers leave the best until last in Latvia
The FIA European Rally Championship’s first visit to Latvia concludes on Sunday with six special stages.
And just to ensure there’s another day of high drama on the ice and snow-coated tests, organisers of Rally Liepāja-Ventspils have come up with one final twist. Rather than arrange a relaxed run to the finish in Ventspils, leg three’s route is the longest so far in terms of competitive distance covered.
In total, crews will cover 109.18 kilometres of timed running on Sunday, having completed 92.05 kilometres on Saturday and 41.77 kilometres on Friday.
Sunday’s first stage, Ventbunkers 2, goes live at 08:30hrs local time with the 26.34-kilometre Kuldīga test, the longest of the ERC qualifier, being run twice at 10:10hrs and 13:15hrs respectively.
The finish in Ventspils is scheduled for 15:35hrs.
Gryazin to head the field on leg three
Promising young Russian Vasily Gryazin will run at the head of the field for a second day when the first Rally Liepāja-Ventspils concludes on Sunday.
With the 12 FIA European Rally Championship priority drivers reseeded at the end of legs one and two, Gryazin will go first on the road in his R4-specification Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, which is prepared by the Sports Racing Technologies team.
János Puskádi starts second, two minutes behind Gryazin, in his Eursol Racing Team Hungary ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 with event leader Jari Ketomaa running 12th on the road in his Autotek Motorsport Ford Fiesta RRC.
Vitaliy Puskhar is 13th on the road and the first driver to run in one-minute intervals over Sunday’s closing six stages, which total 109.18 kilometres in length.
In total, 34 crews are scheduled to start leg three of the main international event.
Pushkar’s striking speed matching striking livery in Latvia
There are several striking car liveries on display on Rally Liepāja-Ventspils, round two of the FIA European Rally Championship.
But perhaps one of the most striking is the colour scheme adorning Vitaliy Pushkar’s Proracing Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.
The rising Ukrainian star, who is co-driven by Ivan Mishyn, remains on course for a top 10 finish in his R4-specification machine.
After nine special stages, Pushkar is in ninth position and fourth in the ERC Production Car Cup.
Kisiels on top in battle to be first Latvian finisher
In the battle to be top Latvian on Rally Liepāja-Ventspils, Raimonds Kisiels continues to hold the advantage in his MINI John Cooper Works RRC.
Driving for the Norwegian Adapta Motorsport outfit, Kisiels is currently eighth overall and two places ahead of Aivis Egle, who is chasing FIA ERC Production Car Cup honours in his Mitsubishi Lancer.
There’s also a close battle to be the first Latvian finisher in the ERC 2WD Championship section of the winter event with Ralfs Sirmacis currently one place ahead of countryman and fellow Ford Fiesta R2 driver Emīls Blūms in fourth and fifth places respectively.
Tänak’s in town but he’d rather be driving
Ott Tänak says he would have relished competing on Rally Liepāja-Ventspils, which concludes on Sunday with six stages.
Tänak has travelled across the border from his native Estonian to support countryman Raul Jeets on the FIA European Rally Championship event but told www.fiaerc.com that he would have preferred to be taking part on the winter spectacular.
“It’s quite interesting, especially watching the top two,” said Tänak, a former semi-works driver for Ford in the world championship. “It looks really equal but it’s difficult to understand which tyres are working the best. Breen is doing a really good job because these conditions are not normal for him but for sure I’d like to be competing here today.”
Jeets (pictured) is currently 11th overall and sixth in the ERC Production Car Cup. “He is one of my friends and I am helping him,” said Tänak. “I am helping preparing the car, running the car and also helping slightly with the pacenotes. He’s a bit of a business driver but he’s doing okay.”