The Canary Islands Championship 2021 ends next weekend and as usual it will be on the island of Lanzarote. This is no less than the 42nd edition of the Orvecame Rally, an event organized by CD. Evesport and which also puts the finishing touch to the Island Championship and the BP Championship of Las Palmas. Although none of the teams that have fought this year for the regional title have registered for Lanzarote, the participation continues to be of a good level and has reached the important number of 61 teams. Even more outstanding considering that the majority are from Lanzarote.
Number 1 is held by Yeray Lemes-Rogelio Peñate, who return to the asphalt of their island with their usual Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Despite not having the most effective mount in the fast rabbit sections, they will surely be the reference for the aspirants to the final podium. In 2012 he achieved his last triumph aboard a Mitsubishi and already has nine absolute triumphs in his rally. If he repeats in 2021 he would reach the unprecedented figure of 10 victories, undoing the tie he currently maintains with Jesús Machín in the "Orvecame-Lanzarote".
His direct rivals are Toñín Suárez-Gabriel Espino with the Porsche 911 GT3 (997), Aníbal Machín-Rubén Pérez with Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII and Rubén Curbelo, who has a triumph in this event (2010), returns to the VW Polo N5, co-piloted this time by David Rivero replacing Ariday Bonilla, who is still recovering from his injuries from the past Canary Islands Rally. With another Mitsu Evo VIII, Alejandro Rodríguez repeats the experience with Miguel Angel Rodríguez as co-pilot.
Where there will be good rivalry is in the Rally 4 category, with Juan Carlos de la Cruz-Aitor Cambeiro (Peugeot 208), who are trying again after their positive experience in the Canary Islands despite their abandonment due to failure. In front of them will be the young Javier Cañada with Alejandro Rodríguez (Opel Corsa), Suso Lemes-Francisco Rosales (Citroen C2 R) and the Tenerife Sergio Fuentes-Alain Peña with the Renault Clio, the latter with more kilometers in this type of car that in the Lanzarote sections must be quite competitive.
On the list you can see another equal part with medium vehicles that can climb many positions in the general. Headed by one of the few teams from Gran Canaria present, Alberto Monzón-Aday Suárez with the Renault Clio Cup. The focus will also be on the very fast Opel Corsa of David Tenorio-Oliver Hernández, the Honda Civics of Camilo González-Jonathan Camacho and Javier Ciprés-Alejandro blanco, the Ford Fiesta N5 of Ariel Quintana-David Alvarez, Marcial and Aníbal Alvarez with their Clio RS and the numerous Renault Megane, among others those driven by Adri Betancort-Rayco Santana or Alfredo Guerra-Lucía Santiago. An area where the BMW M3 of the Gran Canaria Miguel Quintino-Carlos Martín will possibly move.
Isabel Pérez and Coraima Cabrera form the only female team with their Citroen Saxo VTS and in the FALP Promotion event we find three teams and two of them also in the FALP Steering Wheel: The aforementioned Javier Cañada, together with Yoday Betancort-Jordi Díaz (Citroen C2 GT) and Adián Pérez-Diego Cabrera (Toyota Corolla).
In the chapter of casualties, the first two classified of the BP Championship do not attend either, in this order Julio Martínez and Carlos Martín, so the Porsche driver is already a virtual champion by not attending his only direct rival. On the other hand, Martín can lose the runner-up in favor of Juan Carlos de la Cruz.
Friday will be the first day of the rally with the verifications from 3 to 7 pm and official departure at 9 pm, all in the Arrecife fairgrounds, plus the first timed section, the longest with almost 20 km and night, at 9:50 pm. On Saturday, another six sections are held and it ends again in the fairground area, where the finish line and the awards ceremony are, starting at 4:05 pm and 5:00 pm, respectively.
