ERC: Rally Liepaja / Rally review
Back and Forth
During the second part of the opening day
Lappi had clearly shown that he was faster than Gryazin by winning the final three
stages. Gryazin had only been faster due
to his better road position on the morning stages, right? Wrong! On the very first
stage of the second day Gryazin retaliated
and showed the world that his pace on the
opening day was no fluke. He beat Lappi
to snatch back the lead, although it would
be short lived. On the next stage Lappi
countered as the lead ping-ponged back
and forth between the two. Unfortunately
gearbox woes ended this great fight. They
were suffered by Gryazin who had to let
Lappi slip out of his grasp. Still the young
Russian impressed many with his performance. He was eventually rewarded with
a fine second place, just over half a minute
behind now three-time ERC winner and
new joint championship leader, Esapekka
Lappi.
Signs of age
Behind the two leaders Craig Breen was
uncharacteristically out of contention. The
age of his 207 S2000 clearly starting to
show. He will be happy it will be replaced
by the brand new 208T16 which will debut
in Greece. Breen was struggling with his
s