SS6: Protasov leads as Pajunen hits trouble

Yuriy Protasov has consolidated his lead over his fellow Intercontinental Rally Challenge competitors following a win on stage six of the Prime Yalta Rally.

The M-Sport Ford Fiesta RRC driver clocked a time of 12m16.60s, 44.8 seconds quicker than the Ford Fiesta S2000 of Turkey’s Yağiz Avci who finished second fastest.

Meanwhile, Finland’s Mikko Pajunen ran out of luck after the Finnish driver encountered problems during the stage and has not completed the test. A full update will follow shortly.

Marco Tempestini set the third fastest time and was quickest out of the IRC Production Cup competitors in a Subaru Impreza STI R4. The Romanian driver now leads the IRC Production Cup by over a minute after Ukraine’s Yuriy Kochmar had a problem during the stage and lost over one minute.

Robert Consani continues to lead the IRC 2WD Cup by over 40 seconds in his Renault Mégane RS. Romania’s Vlad Cosma is second at the wheel of a Citroën C2 R2.

“We made wrong tyre choice,” says Lindström

Mikko Pajunen’s co-driver Kaj Lindström believes a wrong tyre choice this morning meant valuable time was lost to fellow Intercontinental Rally Challenge competitor Yuriy Protasov.

The Finnish duo were leading Prime Yalta Rally overnight but the decision to opt for harder compound tyres on their M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 made for difficult driving.

“The last stage this morning was very slippery and there were a lot of sections under the trees where we couldn’t find any grip at all,” explained Lindström. “Now that the temperature has risen, the hard compound tyres will be fine for this afternoon but I think it was definitely the wrong choice this morning.”

Pajunen and Lindström are currently second overall, 14.2s adrift of rally leader Protasov.

Dramatic morning for Tempestini family

Father and son duo Marco and Simone Tempestini have had a dramatic morning on Prime Yalta Rally, round 10 of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Both competing in the IRC Production Cup, Tempestini Jr. was the first family member to hit trouble on the slippery asphalt stages set close to the rally base in Yalta.

“About 10km into SS3, we took a hairpin too fast and rolled. We managed to get the car back on the road but lost over three minutes,” explained the Subaru Impreza STI N15 driver.

Tempestini Sr. is second in the IRC Production Cup classifications, but reported problems on the day’s second 22.55-kilometre stage.

“We had a problem with the brakes and lost over one minute,” explained the Romanian driver. “The third stage was okay, and now we make some adjustments to the brakes and suspension over service.”

The repeat afternoon loop will commence at 13:08hrs local time with the second running of the 17.26-kilometre Al-Petri stage.

Engine problems for Vazheyevskyy

Yukhym Vazheyevskyy has been forced to retire from Prime Yalta Rally following an engine problem with his Peugeot 207 S2000.

The Ukrainian driver was seventh on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge leaderboard at the end of SS3 but an engine problem on the road section to SS5 meant Vazheyevskyy was forced to retire from his first competitive debut in a Super 2000 car.

“I think it was the engine cooling system that was the problem. We hope to be back tomorrow,” said the 35-year-old driver.