ERC: Rallye du Valais / Rally review
Surprising leader
Due to Breen and Ancian’s check-in woes it was
Andreas Aigner who, surprisingly, found himself
in the lead. Testimony to his driving skills was
that he managed to take the lead in his regular
Subaru Impreza R4. Of course this Group N machinery should not be able to keep up with the
built-to-rally S2000 and RRC cars, but somehow Aigner managed to stay ahead of most of
them. Aigner did enjoy a very smooth rally up to
this point “The biggest problem was starting the
second stage on time because there were a lot
of traffic and road works.”
would inherit his lead? Olivier Burri might seem
the logical guess with his massive experience of
the event, however it was an asphalt novice who
would actually snatch the lead. Esapekka Lappi
was in the form of his life while going through
a very busy month. After claiming second in
Sanremo he flew to China to go on and win the
APRC China Rally Longyou. Just under a week
later he is back in Europe again and finds himself at the top of the Rally du Valais after four
stages, still a long way to go though…
Fortunes changing?
Both Craig Breen and Jeremy Ancian knew there
Another leader
were up against a massive challenge to retake
However good Aigner was driving, it would of the time they lost earlier due to their check-in
course not be possible to retain the lead in his errors. On the other hand, they also knew they
group N car. The big question then, was who had the speed to challenge for the win, so why
60/64
Second in Sanremo, first in China’s Longyou rally, could this become Lappi’s first ERC
not pus h for it? Especially Ancian took it upon
himself to fight back to the front spots, winning
most of the stages of day two. Unfortunately another time penalty cost him dearly. Now a total
of four minutes of penalty puts him down in seventh overall, only 3 min 40 sec behind the leader
though. That leader of course still being Lappi.
The young Finn is proving to be capable of controlling victories. He had a strong lead over his
rivals, knew that he would overtake Aigner in the
less powerful car, so all he really had to do was
get to the finish on a decent pace. However, that,
is one of the absolute hardest things to do in rallying. Most drivers will tell you it is far easier to
just push and go flat out than drive on 90-95%.
You are still going at high speeds, but it is very
hard to retain your concentration.
Andreas Aigner powered his Impreza over the stages for the last time before switching to a
Peugeot207 S2000 for next season.