Photos: Sergio Betancort
The first race of the season of the Lanzarote Island Rally Championship has been marked by surprises. David Tenorio, together with María Dolores Saéz at the wheel of the Opel Corsa GSI, was proclaimed champion of the III Rallye La Candelaria ? Tías on Saturday afternoon. Tenorio benefited from the mechanical problems suffered by Yeray Lemes and Antonio Suárez. Roberto Hernández and Gerardo González completed the podium of the Rallye La Candelaria ? Tías.
Saturday began with the leadership of Yeray Lemes and Marcos González. The world championship driver had flown on Friday night on the "Tías ? Masdache" section and obtained a comfortable advantage. Everyone thought it was going to be a triumphal walk for Lemes, but problems soon appeared. The BMW 325i suffered a problem in the gearbox, losing more than five minutes in the third timed section and losing all options of taking the final victory.
Yeray Lemes was not the only driver to have problems. Antonio Suárez together with Moisés Robayna with the Renault Megane, also had mechanical problems in the second pass of the "El Mentidero" section. Suárez was able to continue competing under the super-rallye mode, although his time was not going to be counted for the general classification. For his part, Alexis Romero, one of the favorites for the final victory, retired due to mechanical problems.
The Rallye La Candelaria ? Tías opened for the modest drivers and the emotion took over each of the curves of the route. David Tenorio and María Dolores Saez placed themselves as provisional leaders of the rally and defended this privileged position tooth and nail. For his part, Yeray Lemes continued to set the best time in each of the timed sections, although without possibilities of being able to fight for any of the podium positions.
Camilo González and Patricia Guillén with the Honda Civic Type-R, were another of the teams that were fighting for the first places in the classification, but a breakdown in the first pass of the "Hoya Limpia" section, deprived them of fighting for the podium and they were forced to retire.
Roberto Hernández and Ariday Bonilla with the BMW 325i consolidated in the second place of the classification and threatened the leadership of David Tenorio. Finally Tenorio was 6.8 seconds ahead of Roberto Hernández, who had to settle for second place in the general classification. The third place on the podium went to Gerardo González and Francisco Delgado with the Renault 5GT Turbo, who maintained a nice fight with Marcos González and Oliver San Ginés.
Precisely Marcos González and Óliver San Ginés with the Renault Clio Sport were the winners of group N with a time of 18:51.0. Of the four participants in group N, it was the only team that managed to successfully reach the finish line.
The public once again crowded the ditches of each of the timed sections and the influx of public to the "Tías ? Masdache" section on Friday night was spectacular. Once again, the Lanzarote public demonstrated their passion for motorsport and enjoyed the first rally of the season.
RELATED ARTICLES
[David Tenorio: "We had a bad streak of years without finishing a race"->49548]
