Home victory. ERC season opener in Andalusia highlights the speed of Škoda crews

A Spanish driver has won a round of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) for the first time in four years. The success came as a home ground victory, as José Antonio Suárez triumphed in the opening round of the season in Andalusia at Rally Sierra Morena, driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. Giandomenico Basso finished third, while other Škoda crews also delivered strong performances. 

Suárez secured victory at this year’s Rally Sierra Morena in a largely commanding fashion. He took the lead on the second special stage of the rally, at the very beginning of Saturday’s itinerary, and did not relinquish it thereafter. Together with co-driver Alberto Iglesias, the driver of the Spanish Recalvi Team completed a flawless event in the Fabia RS Rally2 and withstood the pressure from his rivals.

By the end of Saturday’s leg, Suárez had built an advantage of 21,6 seconds, which he maintained on Sunday despite the efforts of his competitors, eventually winning by 20.1 seconds. “It is an amazing feeling,” said Suárez. “When I was a child, I dreamed of driving a rally car one day. Now it is much more than what I dreamed of when I was younger. I am so happy. It was a proper rally without mistakes, special stages with a good rhythm, but nothing crazy; today it was not necessary to push hard. Thanks to my experience, before the rally I stopped thinking about what could happen and simply let things flow during the event,” he described the course of events. 

The battle for second place featured another Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 driver, Italian veteran Giandomenico Basso. He ultimately finished third overall, just 1.8 seconds behind second position. Nevertheless, he expressed satisfaction: “I am very pleased and it was great to return to the ERC,” said the driver, adding: “It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to compete again with these drivers, everyone was pushing to the maximum and the competition was very close. I am satisfied with the result and with how we managed the rally.” Basso also won the Master ERC classification for drivers over 50 years of age.

Only 3.4 seconds behind Basso, experienced Finnish driver Teemu Suninen, another Fabia RS Rally2 competitor, finished fourth. A further three drivers in Škoda cars secured positions in the rally´stop ten, bringing the total number of Škoda crews in the top ten to six. The Polish crew of Jakub Matulka and Damian Syty finished eighth, while Czech duo Dominik Stříteský and Ondřej Krajčaplaced ninth. Among other things, Stříteský also impressed by winning the opening Friday super special stage. The top ten classification was completed by the crew of Marco Bulacia and Axel Coronado.