The European Rally Championship (ERC) season finale delivered instant drama during the qualifying session, where Kris Meeke and Andrea Mabellini immediately encountered major setbacks on the track. The opening session demanded extreme precision, forcing drivers to tackle demanding road conditions filled with large rocks. Latvian Skoda driver Martins Sesks claimed the fastest time by beating his team-mate Roope Korhonen by a narrow margin of 0.7 seconds to secure a strategic advantage in road positioning.
Sesks emphasized the importance of road positioning on gravel surfaces that require heavy sweeping. Sesks stated, On a rally like this, the first cars on the road have to do a lot of sweeping. He further added, It is important to push if you want to have a successful weekend, but I think there will be a few surprises. The stages could become extremely rough on the second passes.
Meanwhile, Roope Korhonen expressed satisfaction with his qualifying performance despite facing difficult obstacles along the route. Korhonen noted, The stage was extremely rough and there were some big rocks on the road. It was not the easiest stage, but it was a pretty good run. We are ready.
On the other hand, Lancia drivers showed strong form by locking out the next three positions. Pablo Sarrazin finished third, 1.6 seconds off the benchmark time, followed by Nikolay Gryazin in fourth and Leo Rossel in fifth. However, serious trouble struck previous round winner Kris Meeke when the left-front wheel came off his Toyota during his qualifying run.
Lancia's Andrea Mabellini also ran into difficulty, rolling his car during the session. Fortunately for the Italian driver, who is currently fighting for the ERC silver position, the spectacular roll resulted mostly in cosmetic damage. Several other competitors also experienced close calls at the exact same tricky spot.
Making his gravel rally debut in a Rally2 car, Ville Vatanen finished 9.5 seconds behind Sesks's benchmark. Vatanen's Rally2 drive serves as his prize for winning the M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 Trophy series. Poland's Tymek Abramowski, who secured the same trophy last year, finished just 0.1 seconds behind Vatanen. Reflecting on the run, Vatanen said, It was fantastic. Even though the road was rough, I enjoyed it.
The Portuguese ERC rally is scheduled to kick off later on Friday with a short spectator stage. Saturday's itinerary features eight demanding special stages, with the entire rally concluding on Sunday.
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