Alexey Lukyanuk’s bid for a podium finish on Rally Liepāja-Ventspils has ended in heartbreak after he was reported to have stopped four kilometres from the finish of the penultimate 26.34-kilometre test.
Lukyanuk, in a showroom-specification Mitsubishi Lancer, had closed to within 1.7s of François Delecour (Peugeot 207 Super 2000) in the battle for third place with a storming time through stage 13. However, it is understood the impressive Russian will go no further on the FIA European Rally Championship event.
Craig Breen, who was running behind Lukyanuk on the road, said: “The poor devil was three or four kilometres from here. It looks like he’s hit the sump because there was a big trail of oil behind him. It’s a pity for him because he’d been going well.”
Breen, meanwhile, had problems of his own after completing the stage 12.4s slower than rally leader Jari Ketomaa in a Ford Fiesta RRC. “It sounds like we have a broken manifold because it’s making a hell of a noise,” said Breen. “That stage was horrendously tricky with the studs moving about all over the place at high speed.”
The event concludes with the Ventspils klans 2 stage at 15:00hrs local time. Ketomaa leads the ERC round by 30.7s.