Rally Islas Canarias 2017

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Amazing shots of Jan Černý's crash in SS4 !

[Jarek Z]

Both Czerny and Kasperczyk are lucky that the barriers in Spain are better than the ones in Andora...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMt5w1I_e4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sraayrBmuD4

[Mirek]

Yesterday during Rally Vyškov Zdeněk Pokorný (owner of Černý's car and an active rally driver himself) said that the team actually wanted to restart under superally but it was not possible due to lack of some spares available for reasonable price. He said the damage to the car isn't that bad as it looks on the photos.

Jarek, this particular rails were possibly already damaged from Robert Kubica. Maybe without his crash the concrete fundaments would resit.

[Munkvy]

It's kind of difficult to speak about 3-4 drivers. The thing is that unlike in WRC the ERC drivers aren't totally dominant everywhere they go (at least not that much since Škoda works team left the competition). In other words the same drivers who could have been rather slow in Canarias may and possibly will shine elsewhere. For example I'm quite sure that Černý can fight for the podium in Barum, Gryazin or Sirmacis will be very strong in Liepaja, Gryzb in Rzeszów etc.

What I like about the ERC is that the local drivers can compete on a semi-even playing field with the ERC series regulars (of course their equipment may not be quite as good). Whereas in WRC/WRC2 you have no chance being against the factory teams. So this does give more variety and the potential for an upset. But I do agree that this round was a little bit of a disappointment in the lack of the other ERC regulars being able to keep up with the clearly best driver. However I am big Alexey fan, so I am glad to see him get a car to a finish line and the perfect result.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I'd love to know if Huttunen has improved his tarmac pace since the start, as he has been very close to Ingram since SS1 where he lost 19sec.
Or has Ingram just been going steady and keeping the gap ?

Ingram answered my question, stating at the end that he won the rally on the 1st stage and then just controlled his pace thereafter taking no risks.

[itix]

Both Czerny and Kasperczyk are lucky that the barriers in Spain are better than the ones in Andora...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMt5w1I_e4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sraayrBmuD4

I genuinely thought all these years that they actually hit the end of the guard rail which I assumed was sticking out (which is a really stupid design sometimes seen in italy and some other countries).

That has to count as the shitiest design of all time.

[Hartusvuori]

Ingram answered my question, stating at the end that he won the rally on the 1st stage and then just controlled his pace thereafter taking no risks.

Huttunen's press release said he had set up issues on SS1 which made the car understeer a lot and in order to preserve tyres he lost a lot of time. They did set up work throughout the event.

Ingram could say he just controlled his pace, but a lead that was never over a half a minute is hardly a safe lead. A slow puncture or spins could've changed it all. Also, Ingram started ahead of Huttunen. Still, Ingram hasn't put a foot wrong on these first two events, it must be said. I am very entertained by this duel and of course hoping that Huttunen could take the next round

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Huttunen's press release said he had set up issues on SS1 which made the car understeer a lot and in order to preserve tyres he lost a lot of time. They did set up work throughout the event.

Ingram could say he just controlled his pace, but a lead that was never over a half a minute is hardly a safe lead. A slow puncture or spins could've changed it all. Also, Ingram started ahead of Huttunen. Still, Ingram hasn't put a foot wrong on these first two events, it must be said. I am very entertained by this duel and of course hoping that Huttunen could take the next round

Indeed, that's why I was asking as I thought Ingram could have pulled more of a lead. But he's an honest chap so I take what he said at face value...

[Mirek]

Huttunen's press release said he had set up issues on SS1 which made the car understeer a lot and in order to preserve tyres he lost a lot of time. They did set up work throughout the event.

Ingram could say he just controlled his pace, but a lead that was never over a half a minute is hardly a safe lead. A slow puncture or spins could've changed it all. Also, Ingram started ahead of Huttunen. Still, Ingram hasn't put a foot wrong on these first two events, it must be said. I am very entertained by this duel and of course hoping that Huttunen could take the next round

Huttunen has been so far hugely impressive. Ingram is doing fourth consecutive ERC season while for Huttunen everything is completely new. I'm looking forward how he can progress further.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Assuming he was brought up on gravel, if Huttunen was matching Ingram for pace on tarmac that would be pretty incredible.

Edit
No, bad assumption... he started in karting. He also won the ADAC Opel Rally Cup which includes several tarmac rallies.