Autosportfoto

Ingram flies into ERC Junior lead on Sete Cidades

Chris Ingram charged into a 20-second lead in ERC Junior with a stunning time on Sete Cidades, the longest stage of the Azores Airlines Rallye.

Diogo Gago had reclaimed the class lead from Marijan Griebel by going quickest on the first stage of Friday morning, Pico De Pedra Golfe. Ingram was then fastest on Feteiras MEO with a time good enough for seventh overall, to cut the gap to the Portuguese Peugeot driver to 3.4 seconds.

The Briton was then quickest again on Sete Cidades, 11th overall and 19.4s faster than his fellow Opel Rallye Junior Team driver Griebel. He was 23.4s quicker than Gago, who spun in the stage and has just seven tenths over Griebel in second place.

Steve Røkland fell from fourth to seventh when he stopped on Sete Cidades with an engine problem on his M-Sport-run Ford Fiesta R2T. Debutant Joonas Tokee could have been on course to pick up fourth having got ahead of Julius Tannert on the previous stage, but the young Finn suffered with brake issues and lost places to both Tannert and the Circuit of Ireland category winner Łukasz Pieniążek.

Nikolay Gryazin was within touching distance of Pieniążek after a quick time on SS5, but he ripped a wheel from his Peugeot in contact on SS7.

Zdroj: fiaerc.com