Suarez wins on home soil

Spaniard driver José Antonio Suarez won the ERC opener in Andalusia, with 20,1 seconds in margin to runner up Ivan Ares.
Suarez won the qualifying stage, and besides from the first stage where Suarez ended up 7th, 1,3 seconds up to stage winner Dominik Stritesky, Suarez had the lead all weekend.
On SS2 Suarez was 6,9 seconds faster than the second fastest driver, winning 5 out of 13 stages in total.
Ares was p17 after the first stage, but then he was among the three fastest on every stage afterwards.
Third place was claimed by Italian driver Giandomenico Basso, who had a tight fight with both Ares for second place, but also returning Finnish driver Teemu Suninen. At the end of the rally, 5,2 seconds was the difference between the three drivers. For Suninen, this was his first tarmac event in three years.

This was the start of the 74th ERC season that continues in the classic forrests of Värmland, Sweden in the end of May.

Written by: Christian Flodin