Yeray Lemes and Aitor Cambeiro took the lead on Friday night and have dominated the rally at all times (achieving all the scratches in the seven stages held), until reaching the finish line in Arrecife to celebrate the titles, although with the bitterness of the sad end of their teammates and rivals.
With another Citroen Rally2, second place went to another team from the island of volcanoes, Oscar Cabrera and Nerea Cabrera, 1:23.2 behind the winners. Like the leaders, they always remained on the second step of the podium without major problems and concluding a season biased by the important breakdown that their mount had at the beginning of the year. The final podium was completed by Alvaro Caballero and Noé González, in a great performance with their successful BMW M3 and completing a totally Lanzarote podium.
And the exciting You Rally BP Ultimate Plus Car Cup concluded with the triumph of another island driver, Javier Cañada and his Gran Canarian co-driver Aday Ortiz, who little by little were eating seconds to their great rivals, the Gran Canarians Nelson and Ayose Climent with their respective Opel and Peugeot Rally4, who finished with 12 seconds of difference over the already new champions of this trophy. They also occupied in this order the fourth and fifth place of the general classification.
Total Lanzarote party, because Yeray Lemes, in addition to the title in the CCRA, also adds the BP Rally Championship of Las Palmas and the Lanzarote Island Championship. In the latter with Aitor Cambeiro in the co-drivers section. The palmero driver must settle for the regional runner-up and prize for his Gran Canarian co-driver Edu González, who takes the absolute title of the CCRA. The title of co-drivers in Las Palmas is for Pedro Viera, despite his absence in Lanzarote.
Despite the complications of the organization at the beginning of the rally on Friday night, on Saturday the development of the race has not presented major problems for the CD. Evesport and also the follow-up of fans has been even greater. From Evesport we wish a speedy recovery to the athletes who have suffered injuries and encourage them to return next season with more strength.
Yeray Lemes and Aitor Cambeiro solid leaders from start to finish
Much quieter Saturday morning at the 45th Orvecame-Isla de Lanzarote Rally, where the already 2024 Canary Islands champion team perfectly dominates the race with partial victories in all stages held so far. After the morning section, the Citroen C3 Rally2 are the solid leaders with just over a minute advantage over the second classified, also from Lanzarote Oscar and Nerea Cabrera with another similar mount. The Lemes team wants to secure the victory and for this they continue to carry two spare wheels inside the car for those always unforeseen punctures. They do not want surprises to celebrate the regional title also winning in the last race, which would be the number 12 victory of the Lanzarote driver in the home rally.
Everything changed on Friday night in the first section, where the misfortune of the current regional champions wanted everything to end sooner than expected because of a hard blow in the area of Los Valles and with it the CCRA advanced its outcome passing definitively to Yeray Lemes. Miguel Suárez and Edu González remain under observation in the hospital of Lanzarote, sore from the strong impact against the stone wall and suffering various conditions, which in principle are not serious. Despite everything, Edu is proclaimed regional champion of co-drivers for the second consecutive year and Miguelito as runner-up of the CCRA in drivers. Yes, their goal was to celebrate at least those two titles on the podium of the ROIL24 and fight until the last of the eight stages.
In the second pass through this same long special, but in the area of Tabayesco, there was another incident starring the Peugeot 106 of team number 26, also having to be transferred to the Doctor José Molina Orosa hospital to be attended. After a first assessment, the co-driver Clemente Martín suffers a fractured rib and his driver Iván Hernández came out in principle unharmed.
Surprise in the third place of the general with the dominance that Alvaro Caballero-Noé González have been holding with the BMW M3, 26.8 seconds from the second step of the podium and with only 4.7 advantage over their pursuers. Those are the tenors of the "You Rally BP Ultimate Plus Car Cup", where Javier Cañada-Aday Ortiz lead with the Opel Corsa, being fourth in the general classification, with only 8.2 seconds of advantage over their direct rivals, the Gran Canarians Nelson and Ayose Climent with the Peugeot 208 Rally4, provisional fifth in the general of the ROIL24.
With the last stage missing, 34 of the 45 teams that took the start last night in Arrecife were still in the race, where they will arrive again to cross the final finish line this afternoon from 4 pm, on the ramp located in the Rambla Medular next to the Open Mall, with subsequent awards ceremony.
