Alexey Lukyanuk and Alexey Arnautov start this weekend at the FIA European Rally Championship in Poland with the support of Citroën Racing and Pirelli. The Russians will compete in a Citroën C3 Rally2 prepared by the French team Saintéloc! Mid June is a great time for the long-awaited launch of the 2021 FIA European Rally Championship. The Polish event received the honor to open a new racing season after the two-time postponement of the spring rounds of the series.
The ORLEN 77th Rally Poland is one of the oldest sporting events that celebrates its centenary this year, but it will be closed-to-the-public. Despite the partial weakening of COVID-19 restrictions in the country, the organizers were forced not to create spectator areas at the special stages, as well as to close the viewer access to the Mikołajki Arena and the city special stage on the famous Karowa Street in Warsaw.
The organizers have prepared an interesting route, according to which most of the distance will continue to base on fast and smooth gravel roads around the traditional headquarters in Mikołajki in the Mazurian Lake District in the north of the country. Three of the 14 special stages will be new to drivers, several others are used in configurations close to the ones that the racers had already passed two years ago, and the “Rally Poland 100th Anniversary” special stage that closes the rally is the only SS with asphalt and cobblestone paving along the streets in the center of Warsaw.
Rally fans and drivers are pleased with the entry list – there is about a hundred crews and 76 of them perform in the international rally standings, including 39 drivers in Rally2 (R5) vehicles. Three of them are racing aces and victors of the Polish rally of different years – Alexey Lukyanuk (2019), Nikolay Gryazin (2018) and Andreas Mikkelsen (2016). Craig Breen is another hot opponent. After last year’s crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and widespread lockdowns, the interest of rally teams and crews in the FIA ERC has increased. Since the beginning of spring, there have been a lot of news about the ambitious plans of many drivers, and there are many names in the list of applicants for places in the top ten of the Polish rally overall standings – local fast guys Miko Marczyk and Grzegorz Grzyb; the Spaniards Efren Llarena and Nil Solans; three-time French champion Yoann Bonato; Italians Umberto Scandola and Simone Campedelli; Estonians Roland Poom and Georg Linnamäe; Romanian Simone Tempestini.
In 2021, Alexey Lukyanuk, also known as Lucas, resumed his long-term cooperation with co-driver Alexey Arnautov. The Russian duo has already tested the updated version of the Citroën C3 Rally2, although of all the innovations Lucas managed to evaluate, perhaps, only the adjustable balance of braking forces. Previously, the front and rear brake settings were rigidly fixed, and now the driver has the ability to adjust the balance himself. It is one of those things that have been discussed with the engineers and that has been implemented in the new version of the car. The vehicle also got a new modification of the suspension struts, but it was not possible to fully test this change due to the annoying overturn during the test session. Unfortunately, many body panels were damaged, but the Saintéloc Junior Team brought another chassis from France to Poland that is now fully prepared for the start of the rally and has passed all the necessary technical checks.
Alexey Lukyanuk, driver, “Unfortunately, for 25 test kilometers we really didn’t manage to test anything, so we will continue to do it during the rally. The car was prepared, the team did everything necessary, everything is great here, and we are ready to start in qualification. We have to push hard, because our rivals are hot – the fight will be very tight and interesting.
Only one special stage partially repeats the distance of 2019, that is, there are approximately 90% of new roads for us – it’s interesting. In general, I really like the special stages here – they are fast, rather narrow, and at the same time technical. It requires a firm hand, a confidence in the pacenotes, and pressure – everything we love!”
Free practice for the FIA priority list drivers starts today at 11h30 local time, followed by the qualifying stage at 14h15. In the evening the crews will overcome the super-special stage “Mikołajki Arena” in the format of a pair race. Full racing days will take place on Saturday and Sunday; the names of the winners of the first round of the 2021 FIA European Rally Championship will be announced in Warsaw after the Ceremonial Finish at 19h00!
The crew of Alexey Lukyanuk and Alexey Arnautov would like to thank the technical partners Citroën Racing and Saintéloc Junior Team, the tyre manufacturer Pirelli, the Coolstream and Ecover trademarks, the Greek ferry company Seajets, the tour operator Space Travel, and the media partner AutoSportMedia for their support
