Mon 09 May 2022
The Canary Islands top 5 rally drivers
Some of Europe’s best rally drivers will be in action when Rally Islas Canarias hosts round three of the FIA European Rally Championship – plus the opening event of the Junior ERC season – from 12-14 May. Local journalist Javier Viera is your guide to some of the archipelago’s top talents.
Can lay claim to being the only Rally Islas Canarias winner on this year’s entry list. Twice Spanish champion (2001 and 2013) and three-time regional title winner (1994, 1998 and 2002), Monzón finished eighth on the event last season.
Seven times regional rally champion, an eighth title this year would put him ahead of José María Ponce, who also has seven local titles to his name. He was a very competitive fifth on last year’s event and will be a contender to emulate that performance this year in a Ford Fiesta Rally2
This is his third season at Rally2 level, Suárez finished third behind Cruz and Monzón in the regional title battle in 2020 and 2021. This year’s Rally Islas Canarias marks his second event driving a Citroën C3 Rally2 run by Emma Falcón’s Sports & You Canarias operation. Suárez lives in Los Llanos de Aridane, a municipality affected by the volcano from September to December 2021.
Third in the regional championship in 2019, Fuentes moved to the ERC in 2020 and is also the local championship class winner for the past three seasons. He’s contesting the Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT in 2022.
Ponce has been entered on every single Rally Islas Canarias since 1977 but misses out this year. The Spanish champion from 1991, Ponce won Rally Islas Canarias in 1995 and 1996. He’s also a seven-time regional champion
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