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Event preview: Continental ERC stars take on local aces on famous Circuit

The FIA European Rally Championship heads to Northern Ireland next week (7-9 April) for round two of the 2016 season, the classic Circuit of Ireland.

A fantastic field of 77 cars will take to the high-speed asphalt lanes, with a remarkable 38 R5 and Super 2000 cars taking part. Top of the bill is Craig Breen, returning to the ERC for an event he won last year, but Alexey Lukyanuk and Kajetan Kajetanowicz will be out to stop him. The event also marks the start of the ERC Junior Championship for 2016, the first of six rallies in which stars of the future will do battle.

The challenge

The Circuit of Ireland is one of the oldest rallies in the world, celebrating its 85th anniversary this year with a slot on the ERC calendar for a third successive season. The rally is run over challenging country roads to the north and south of the Belfast base. Crews from Britain and Ireland will also take part, adding to the depth on the start list.

This year's event will be fought over 14 stages and 209.56 competitive kilometres. The action begins on Thursday 7 April with a 4.22-kilometre Qualifying Stage to help determine the running order for leg one among priority drivers. On Friday drivers head north from Belfast for five stages including the rally's longest, the 31.21 kilometres of The Glens, before a short street stage in Newtownards. Saturday's route goes to the south for a loop of four stages that's repeated in the afternoon.

The contenders
Craig Breen (Citroën DS3 R5): last year's ERC runner-up is competing in the WRC in 2016 but couldn't miss the chance to return to an event he achieved a life-long dream on last year by winning. The car is new to him but Breen will be expected to star all the same.

Keith Cronin (Citroën DS3 R5): a three-time British champion, Cronin is also proving to be a master of Irish asphalt in 2016. Remarkably this is his first Circuit start but he comes armed with a DS3 from the same DGM stable as Breen and could well challenge his compatriot.

Elfyn Evans (DMACK British Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5): having twice finished on a WRC podium with M-Sport, Evans has made a flying start to 2016 driving R5 machinery and leads the revived British championship. He'll be a force to be reckoned with on his ERC debut.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz (LOTOS Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5): the popular Pole finished just 6.4 seconds behind Breen on his Circuit of Ireland debut last year, so a first win on a true asphalt ERC round is a real possibility this time around for the defending champion.

Alexey Lukyanuk (Ford Fiesta R5): a year ago Lukyanuk arrived in Northern Ireland lacking sealed-surface experience but he's now won two such events on the trot, first in Valais at the end of 2015 and then on the season opener in Gran Canaria. What price on a hat-trick?

The challengers
Local fans will cheer on Alastair Fisher (Ford Fiesta R5), who ran in the top four on his last two starts on a rally his uncle Bertie won three times. Fast Frenchman Robert Consani is back in a Citroën DS3 R5, and held third on the Circuit last year when gearbox failure struck. After strong starts to the British championship, Swede Fredrik Åhlin and Welshman Tom Cave will be ones to watch in Fiesta R5s along with Scotland's David Bogie (ŠKODA Fabia R5). Jaromír Tarabus and Raul Jeets begin ERC campaigns in Fabia R5s looking to improve upon eighth and ninth respectively on the Circuit last year, while Jarosław Kołtunwill be joined in driving a Fiesta R5 by fellow Pole Filip Nivette. Dávid Botka, Federico Della Casa (both DS3 R5) and Antonín Tlusťák (Fabia R5) will hope for better than they fared on round one. Jonny Greer (DS3 R5), Martin McCormack (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) and Robert Woodside (Fiesta R5) are further Northern Irish entries, joined by Joseph McGonigle (Fabia S2000) from south of the border and Neil Simpson (Fabia R5) from across the Irish Sea.

The reward
A total prize fund of 200,000 Euros will be on offer to competitors in the ERC again this year. A sum of 20,000 Euros will be available at each of the 10 events on the calendar and be shared between the seven highest-placed eligible drivers in the final rally classification regardless of category. This year, all drivers that have registered for the ERC will be eligible as long as they are using tyres from one of the championship's partner suppliers (Michelin and Pirelli). In 2015, 38 ERC drivers earned prize money.

The class acts
The ERC is split into three categories: ERC1 for top-of-the-range R5 machinery, ERC2 for production-based models and ERC3 for two-wheel-drive cars. The Circuit of Ireland marks the start of the ERC Junior Championship for drivers born in 1989 or later and competing in R2 machinery on Pirelli tyres.

ERC Junior: Future stars begin campaigns on classic rally
A trio of factory-supported Opel drivers look to follow in the footsteps of Emil Bergkvist, who was the 2015 ERC Junior champion in an Adam R2. Marijan Griebel finished third in the ERC Junior standings last season and intends to go one better than his second place on this event last year. He is joined at the ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team by fellow German Julius Tannert, who won the one-make trophy for the Adam in Germany last year. Britain's Chris Ingram also drives an Adam R2 after taking fifth in ERC Junior last year, and led the class on his home event in 2014 before a crash. Having placed between Griebel and Ingram in 2015, Steve Røkland returns in a Peugeot 208 R2, which is also the car of choice for Nikolay Gryazin who finished a stunning sixth overall on his ERC debut in Valais last year. Łukasz Pieniążek (Adam R2) and Marco Cid (208 R2) warmed up by competing in Gran Canaria while Czech driver Dominik Brož returns in a Ford Fiesta R2 after his ERC debut on home ground last year.

Chuchała looks to shine again in ERC2
Wojciech Chuchała travels to Northern Ireland after starring in Gran Canaria, finishing fifth overall and dominating ERC2 in his Subaru Poland Rally Team Impreza STI. Having been the closest in class to Chuchała for the majority of that event, a win for Giacomo Scattolon (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X) would more than make up for the disappointment of losing second place on the final stage.

Humar looks to lead the ERC3 contenders
In the absence of the top three ERC3 finishers in Gran Canaria, Aleks Humar (Oktan Sport 208 R2) could move into the standings lead with a strong result against the ERC Junior contingent in Northern Ireland. The four-time Slovenian champion was fourth in ERC3 last time out, while Szabolcs Várkonyi (Ritmus ASE 208 R2) was seventh and Joao Correia (Renault Clio R3T) was eighth. László Német (Arable Racing Kft 208 R2) and Renato Pita (Fiesta R2) will be making their first starts of the season.

Zdroj: fiaerc.com