ERC
The Devil’s stage takes its toll as ERC leaderboard shuffles
The 33.86-kilometre Y Diafol stage has taken its toll with Philip Allen, Jakub Matulka and Max McRae all failing to make it through the sixth stage of JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion.
Allen and Matulka both crashed heavily on the stage – which translates from Welsh to English as The Devil – albeit with no injuries to either crew, while McRae, who’d dropped out of contention when he slipped off the road and got stuck on SS3, stopped with a suspension issue following a heavy landing.
The retirements for Allen and Matulka have allowed FIA European Rally Championship title contender Andrea Mabellini to climb from ninth to seventh as he attempts to cancel out the deficit resulting from a two-minute time penalty. Mabellini was fastest on the first stage of the afternoon loop, Cwm Elan.
In the battle for first place, Jon Armstrong leads the all-asphalt contest with an advantage of 8.5sec ahead of Romet Jürgenson after he topped the times through Y Diafol. ERC points leader Miko Marczyk holds third place.
“This is one of the best stages in the world,” Armstrong said afterwards. “This one is proper it is unbelievable. It was really good run.”
Meanwhile, there was further drama when ERC3 pacesetter Eamonn Kelly had to drive on a damaged front-left tyre for 10 kilometres of Y Difol. However, the Irishman continues to lead the Rally3-based category ahead of Hubert Kowalczyk, who is being hampered by a reported engine issue.
The repeat of Mydroilyn is next from 17:45 local time with the rerun of the Aberystwyth town centre super special stage rounding out leg one from 19:00.
