Just hours to go for the start of the 2018 Cyprus Rally
15/06/2018
The 15 fastest crews of this mornings’ Qualifying Stage had gathered in front of the Medieval castle on the beachfront of Foinikoudes in Larnaca for the start number selection procedure. It is commonly known that gravel rallies are very difficult for crews who have to “sweep” the stages from the rough dirt and rocks, therefore starting down the order is beneficial to both the car and the overall time that a crew can achieve in a stage. The fastest man this morning, Nasser Al-Attiyah chose the 15th position to start the rally, with Juuso Nordgren selection the 14th The 2016 Cyprus Rally winner and ERC leader Alexey Lukyanuk chose the 13th starting position with Acropolis Rally winner Bruno Magalhaes starting 10th.
Fastest local driver and last year’s local champion Simos Galatariotis will start the rally 11th with Alexandros Tsouloftas electing to start the rally third.
In the press conference that followed the start number selection procedure Αl-Attiyah wished all the other competitors a good and safe rally before adding: “We have plenty of experience from this event, we are definitely aiming to claim a sixth win here. I spend the last few days training for the Japan Olympics in Malta and after the Cyprus Rally is concluded I will remain here for another week to continue my training.”
Bruno Magalhaes said: “The win in the Acropolis Rally was absolutely vital because without it
I wouldn’t have an answer from my sponsors whether I could take part here or not. We had an accident here in that corner where two other cars also went off so this year we are aiming for a podium.” Simos Galatariotis said: “Due to lots of drivers having problems last year we managed to finish in second place overall. We are aiming to improve that this year. We had a good rally in our new R5 category car in Acropolis and we are considering taking part in more ERC rounds this year.”
Catie Munnings said: “I have just completed filming my own TV show, it will be similar to Top Gear. We did not know if we were taking part in Cyprus until I received the message from my team, SaintelocJunior, that we would! This is just my third gravel rally and I need the kilometres so I can learn as much as possible. The next step for the crews is the ceremonial Start on the beacfront at Foinikoudes at 19:00 tonight, after which the cars will be put to sleep by the beach, before they set off on an exciting two days of rallying.
