Sesks had
been on course to complete the opening day of the 2024 ERC season opener on top
with a lead of 3.8sec with one stage remaining. But when the Team MRF Tyres
driver reached the finish of SS7 with a damaged rear-left tyre on his identical
Yaris, Heikkilä was able to regain first place, despite being hampered by a
reported pop-off valve issue aboard his Michelin-equipped machine.
“I’m really
happy for us because we’ve been doing a good job on these stages but again this
pop-off, it’s a really stupid thing,” the Finn said. “We lost a lot of time
because of that. I’m happy with how we’re performing but, unfortunately, we
gave away 20sec today for the other reasons.”
Heikkilä
arrived at midday service leading Sesks by 0.4sec but was surprised to be ahead
of his Latvian rival rather than behind.
“We
didn’t have liquid for the windscreen washer and on the long stage there was
mud in the corner so the windscreen got fully with mud and I couldn’t wipe it
away so I didn’t see and we lost six seconds,” the Finn said. “I was afraid we
would lose more but luckily we didn’t.”
Of
his SS7 delay, Sesks said: “I don’t know where [the damage] was, I would say
three kilometres or something.”
Simone
Tempestini took a stage win on his way to third place at the overnight halt on
only his second start in Škoda’s latest-generation Fabia. The multiple Romanian
champion is 5.7sec ahead of last year’s ERC title winner Hayden Paddon in a
Pirelli-equipped Hyundai i20 N Rally2.
Qualifying
Stage winner Miko Marczyk is fifth overnight, one place in front of home hero
and SS4 winner Miklós Csomós, who dropped a handful of seconds with a half-spin
in the afternoon.
After
landing his maiden ERC stage win on SS2, Mathieu Franceschi rolled on SS3,
reaching the stage finish with damaged front tyres and a dented Fabia RS
Rally2. But he responded in the afternoon with two stage wins to complete day
one in seventh place.
“The
first stage was really nice with my first scratch in the ERC,”
Michelin-equipped Franceschi said. “But in the second one we tried to push
maybe too much and in a right corner. I was too fast and clipped the bank and
we rolled. During this moment we lost 10 seconds maybe but 100 metres after
that the tyres lost air and that’s why we lost more than one minute. But it’s
part of the game.”
After
winning Friday evening’s super special stage, Erik Cais blamed “pessimistic
pacenotes” for not being able to replicate his early rally speed. The Czech is
eighth after seven stages having moved ahead of Andrea Mabellini on SS6 after the
Italian was delayed in dust thrown up by Kristóf Klausz, who had stopped to
change a wheel.
ERC3
champion Jon Armstrong (Ford Fiesta Rally2) is 10th followed by Péter Ranga,
Simon Wagner, Philip Allen and Martin László.
Frigyes
Turán, the Rally Hungary winner in 2019, was delayed by a left-rear puncture on
SS3 and a reported powersteering issue on SS4. He’s down in 17th as a result.
Former
European champion Efrén Llarena’s bid to regain the ERC crown he lost to Hayden
Paddon in 2023 suffered an early setback when he stopped on SS3 with radiator
damage and retired.
“We
landed with the front of the car and the bumper came inside the radiator and made
a really small hole,” the Team MRF Tyres-entered Llarena explained. “After that
a water leak started so we’re really disappointed.”
Llarena
also inflicted damage to the left rear of his Fabia with a “massive moment,
fifth gear” on SS2, that damaged his car’s rear spoiler mounting.
ERC
title contender Mads Østberg was declared a non-starter after he was
hospitalised with a lung infection on Friday morning. Although the Norwegian is
already in recovery mode, he was ordered to rest rather than chase back-to-back
Rally Hungary victories.
Up next on V-Híd
Rally Hungary is the 15.34-kilometre Iszka test from 09:27 local time tomorrow
(Sunday, 14 April). The 18.50-kilometre event-deciding Naglőtér Power Stage is
due to begin at 17:05.