PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
This Friday afternoon-evening was the eve of the Orvecame - Isla de Lanzarote Rally, with the opening ceremony, press conference with the main favorites and vehicle checks, in what is the farewell to the Canary Islands Regional Championship and the BP Championship of Las Palmas, along with its derived trophies.
The start began at five o'clock in the afternoon and 92 vehicles with their corresponding drivers and co-drivers, were approaching the ramp installed in the center of the Cabrera Medina Group and Orvecame-Cicar. At the top, the Minister of Sports of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Patricia Pérez, was waiting for the starting flag, accompanied by several councilors from the municipalities where the nine timed sections of the rally with the highest participation on the island will take place this Saturday, in addition to the representatives of the main sponsor Orvecame and the organization in charge of the Las Palmas Automobile Federation, represented by its president José Víctor Rodríguez. The president of the FCA, Carlos Gaztañaga, and the island president of La Palma, Pedro Pérez, also attended this ceremony.
Never before had such a long parade of rally vehicles been seen on the island of volcanoes, which received the applause of a passionate fan base like no other on this side of the Canary archipelago. Finally, four of the 96 registered failed, so 92 teams officially started. The ones that have failed are vehicles numbers 12, 41, 79 and 88.
After receiving the ovation from the public and fans, who tomorrow will join in greater numbers to the nine timed sections, it was the turn for the statements in a press conference representative of the great cast of participating drivers.
As guests of honor for their great international career this season, Emma Falcón, co-piloted on this occasion by the champion Sara Fernández, who hopes to finish the season with a great performance in the rally that is closest to her home.
For his part, the winner of the last editions of the race, Yeray Lemes, showed his satisfaction for the great car he is going to drive, the Porsche 911 rented to Chicho Acosta from La Palma, who after testing it at the Maspalomas Circuit more than meets the expectations of the fast driver from Lanzarote, who will be looking for a new victory this Saturday. He is undoubtedly the big favorite.
The leader of the BP Championship of Las Palmas, Mingo Ramos, is very eager to get to know this new race for him and play a good role on his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, after already knowing himself as the virtual provincial champion by not registering his main rival for Lanzarote. It will be a prize for his entire team and enjoy the absolute title in advance, after having been at the Madrid Rally as the winner of the Volante BP.
At the Regional level, the absence of the already holder of the Canary rally title, attention is focused on the runner-up that Julián Falcón can reach with another Porsche 911, who must add three points to achieve his goal. Oliver Rodríguez has it a little more complicated, leader of the Lanzarote island championship, who with a renewed SEAT Córdoba WRC, will almost certainly be one of the men to beat in these Lanzarote sections. Without a doubt, Toñín Suárez with another Porsche 911 and the Evo's of Suso Lemes and Rubén Curbelo will not make it easy for him either. And a whole "adventure" will be the entry into the game of José María Ponce with the SEAT 600 prototype, after seven years without racing on this island.
For the promotional trophies, the BP Rally trophy remains unpublished in this race due to lack of participants and the classification will not change. The Skoda Fabia Cup arrives in Lanzarote with Dani Santana as leader, although both he and his teammates will have to wait for their true final within a week in Fuerteventura. On the other hand, the Adam DisaMax Cup will define the champion in the rally, where Oliver Nieves is the main candidate.
The rally starts this Saturday with the Hoya Limpia-Tías-Tegoyo section, at 10:15 a.m., followed by La Candelaria San Bartolomé at 10:45 a.m. They are repeated at 12:15 and 12:45 hours, respectively, after the passage of the rally caravan through the assistance in the central headquarters of Orvecame and Cicar.
At 2:30 p.m., the second part of the rally will start with the Ciudad de Arrecife show section, in the parking lots next to the Island Council. It resumes in the north of the island, with a double pass through Guatiza-Los Valles (4:15 p.m. and 6:55 p.m.) and through Los Valles-Haría-Tabayesco (4:45 p.m. and 7:25 p.m.), which contains its spectacular sector of the Ermita de las Nieves. The organization has decided to delay the afternoon sections by 15 minutes due to the long list of registered participants, which we already include in this statement.
