Alexey Lukyanuk and Alexey Arnautov, double European Rally Champions (2018 and 2020 seasons) have not started the season in the best possible way. The Russian team suffered an accident in the tests prior to Rally Poland, the first round of the championship (June 18, 19 and 20).
They were unharmed in an accident during scheduled tests on Tuesday, forcing their Saintéloc Junior Team to prepare a replacement Citroën C3 Rally2 in record time to be in Poland. Lukyanuk himself has explained what happened to the ERC microphones.
This is how he recalls the mishap: ““We started normally according to the test plan, did some set-up changes and the feeling was improving. On a right corner over a jump, right before this jump the car bottomed with the front and lost the front grip and jumped almost straight”.
The Russian is not happy, how could it be otherwise: “We did only 25 kilometers, so I cannot be satisfied with our day of testing”. However, he knows that he is “part of the game” during this type of test: “Some configuration changes can go in right direction and sometimes in wrong direction“.
Saintéloc Junior Team, the team of champions, will get a new Citroën C3 Rally2, which should arrive during the morning of the same Thursday. From there, they will be decorated, they will incorporate the ground settings, they will be ready for the pre-event checks. “Finally there was no great drama, just a hole in my tight budget” Lukyanuk ends.
Just hours to start
Rally Poland will start on Friday afternoon, with the shakedown starting at three in the afternoon. The teams will carry out the first timed stage (urban) late in the afternoon of the same Friday. On Saturday, from first thing in the morning, the action will begin.
Andreas Mikkelsen, Craig Breen, Nikolay Gryazin and the aforementioned Lukyanuk are some of the favorites among the large presence of Rally2 vehicles. Efrén Llarena and Nil Solans will defend the colors of Rallye Team Spain in the absolute category. It will be very interesting …
