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Saturday night's alright for Pryce in TER at Rally Terda Sarda
07.10.2023
2022 British Champion holds overnight leadership
The 2023 TER – Tour European Rally title fight is lighting up the season finale, Rally Terra Sarda. After an opening day of action on the technical stages around the heart of the Gallura, 2022 British Champion Osian Pryce, codriven by Stéphane Prévot on a Hyundai i20N Rally 2 is in the lead after winning three of the days' five tests.
Faster in the other two stages, 2014 Italian Junior Champion Giacomo Scattolon with Sauro Farnocchia on a Volkswagen Polo is 6.8 seconds adrift.
In another great battle for the third podium step 2017 TER2 Cup runner-up, Danish Simon Vallentin sharing a Hyundai i20 N Rally 2 with Peter Egholm, is trading places and seconds with the Škoda Fabia R5 of Loris Ronzano and Gloria Andreis; only 1.8 seconds separate the crews at the overnight halt.
The Greek driver Sotiris Ieremiadis is fifith and gaining experience, with Pietro Ometto alongside him in a Škoda Fabia R5 Evo. More Fabias complete the provisional top ten, with more exciting duels in sight: Roberto Cocco and Sergio Deiana have 10.9 seconds in hand over Swiss Stefano Mella with Simone D'Agostino. The two German crews of Thomas Lorenz-Tim Rauber and 2019 TER – Tour European Rally runner-up Stefan Göttig and Nathalie Solbach-Schmidt.
Young French Pierre-Paul Baltolu, sharing a Renault Clio Rally4 with Anthony Pes, is leading in the TER Junior Trophy. Domingo Alonso and Moises Gomez, on a sister car, hold onto second.
In the TER 2WD Trophy, Fabrizio De Sanctis, holder of the record for consecutive starts in Rally Finland, is getting to grips with the Renault Clio Rally5, codriven by Raffaele Pizzato.
Some TER – Tour European Rally crews did not reach the finish of the opening day, on the beautiful Porto Cervo Marina: Inessa Tushkanova and Jessica James stopped on the second stage, sharing the same fate of 2022 TER Ladies Trophy winner Rachele Somaschini, codriven by Fabio Salis. Ronnie Caragliu and Pietro Cottu retired on the third test while they were battling for the final podium place. The same stage was also fatal for Angelo Orecchioni and Marco Corda. 3-time Turkish Champion Burak Çukurova with Burak Ackay on a Škoda Fabia R5 lost precious time on the final stage and stopped on the last road section.
Action in Rally Terra Sarda will resume tomorrow, Sunday October 8th, with SS6 Aglientu, the TER Power Stage awarding important bonus points.
Photo: Francesco Zedda
