The intermittent rain and the resulting guess regarding the choice of tires have caused several changes in the ranking throughout the second section of the race. Adrien Fourmaux-Benjamin Boulloud hold the second place 7.5'' away followed by Nil Solans-Xavi Moreno just 5.5'' behind.
The Catalans adapted perfectly to the delicate state of the first four stages of the 44 Rally Islas Canarias. They are just 9,7 seconds away from the also Spaniards Iván Ares-David Vázquez and, further back, Adrien Fourmaux-Renaud Jamoul passed the Canarians Yeray Lemes-Rogelio Peñate on the last stage.
The premises where the football team UD Las Palmas usually plays hosted for the first time ever the formal start of the FIA European Rally Championship's last date. Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jaeger-Amland, with their Skoda Fabia R5, chose to take the first place at the stages of the first leg after having chosen this position in the selection turn for the starting order.
The Polish champion in 2019 has been able to take advantage of his Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo and will be the first one to choose the starting position for the leg tomorrow, which almost certainly will take place in the rain. Craig Breen, ‘Cohete’ Suárez and Andreas Mikkelsen finished less than one second behind.
From 3:00 pm in the afternoon the road GC-70 will be taking in what can be considered as the prologue of the 44 Rally Islas Canarias. The fifteen fastest teams will have the opportunity to choose their starting position in the first leg, which is expected to be quite tricky due to the weather conditions.
Following the guidelines of the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, the last appointment of the FIA European Rally Championship to be held in Gran Canaria between November 26 and 28, will not be able to count on spectators in its different special stages.
With full institutional support, the Gran Canaria Arena pavilion has hosted the first formal act of this round of the FIA European Rally Championship, the Spanish Superchampionship and the Spanish Asphalt Rally Championship, which closed entries this Saturday with a hundred teams from of which 40 will participate with R5 cars.
The FIA has authorized the extension of this period. Many of the main teams have already entered for the event that will take place in Gran Canaria from November 26 to 28. After the rallies of this weekend, Alexey Lukyanuk is the leader of the FIA ERC and Pepe López, who defends the victory achieved in 2019, will do the same in a tight CERA.
The access control measures imposed by the health situation have forced the organizer to leave the Parque Santa Catalina environment. The surroundings of the most important sports complex in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will host the start, finish line and service park.
The coronavirus pandemic that has hit the whole world since last March has forced the Organizing Committee of the Rally Islas Canarias to move the headquarters of the 44th edition. The health situation imposes a series of controls impossible to implement in the one that has been the natural environment of this international event during a good part of its history. For this reason, the operational center of the rally and the teams leave the Parque Santa Catalina to move to the Estadio de Gran Canaria.
The large south parking lot of this sports complex where Unión Deportiva Las Palmas plays home will host the service park and, therefore, will be the 'home' of the teams from the moment they take positions at the beginning of the week. Scrutineering, as well as the start and finish ceremonies, will also take place in the stadium surroundings.
All this, under the strict capacity control measures imposed by the authorities on events of the caliber of the Rally Islas Canarias, which, for another year, is eligible for the FIA European Rally Championship, the Spanish championship, the Spanish superchampionship and the Regional championship. On this way, the collaboration of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and the Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has facilitated this rapid transfer of headquarters to meet all requirements.
Although the itinerary will undergo some adjustments as a result of the change of headquarter, the route remains intact, with the stages of 'Valsequillo' (11.91 km), 'San Mateo-DISA' (12.01 km), 'Artenara' (12, 21 km), 'Tejeda' (12.95 km) and the urban super special of 'Las Palmas de Gran Canaria-DISA' on the day of Friday, November 27, and 'Valleseco-DISA' (14.17 km), 'Gáldar '(12.4 km),' Moya '(12.7 km) and 'Arucas' (11.85 km) for the Saturday leg, November 28.
Entries, which were reopened last week, are going well and it is expected to have the main teams of the European championship, the national and the regional.
Until next November 11, the teams that are going to participate in this round of the FIA European Rally Championship, the Spanish Championship, the Spanish Superchampionship and the Regional Championship may formalize their entrie. With logical adjustments due to the date change, the time program and the route remain practically intact.