Alexey Lukyanum is not one to go back on his words and after vowing to push from the first day of the CNP ASFALISTIKI Cyprus Rally 2016, has charged through day two in first place.
The Belarusian with Alexey Arnautov and their Ford Fiesta R5 have been flawless so far, setting the fastest time in 5 of the 7 Special Stages of day 2 of the rally.
The only drivers who have attempted to challenge them in terms of raw speed have been Ralfs Sirmacis and Marijan Griebel with the young Latvian showing great pace in setting the fastest times in two of today’s stages.
Griebel was second on one occasion but both drivers are more than a minute and a half away from the “flying” leaders. David Botka closed the second day in fourth place after managing to pass the leading Cypriot crew of Christos Demosthenous and Pambos Laos, but only by a mere 7.4 seconds.
It should be noted that the two crews have been battling each other since the beginning of the second day of the rally. Demosthenous can also breathe a sigh of relief after the retirement of Simos Galatariotis, leaving Demosthenous and Laos to focus on their chase of Botka and Szeles.
Other victims of day two were Polykarpou and Athanassoulas, with the Cypriot carrying on via the Super Rally regulations while the Greek was forced to withdraw from the event after overheating engine issues brought their charge to a premature end.
In the two-wheel drive category, the Castrol Ford Team Turkiye crew of car number 12, Murat Bostanci and Onur Vatansever lead the way, while the other Ford Fiesta of Bugra Banaz and Burak Erdener (also from the same team) hold onto second place. Third amidst the two-wheel drive cars is the Honda Civic Type R crew of Zacharias Manoli and Andreas Varnakkides.
The day wrapped up with the spectacular CNP ASFALISTIKI Super Special Stage. Alexey Lukyanuk set the fastest time in the heart of Nicosia with a time of 5:08.7.
The third and final day of the CNP ASFALISTIKI Cyprus Rally 2016 includes four special stages with the last two being the famous Love Cyprus Golden Stage where the fastest crews, regardless of their overall time, will earn a total of 60.000 euros depending on their total time through these two stages.
On Sunday, the rally will have four special stages, with a total length of 67.42km.The first two will be a repeat of the Friday stages.
These are the Stavrovouni-Klavdia stage to begin at 08:20 and the Petrofani-Kelia stage which starts at 08:58.
The rally will conclude with two special stages, the Love Cyprus Golden Stage which returns to our National rally in order to offer a total of 60 thousand euro as a prize to the winners.
The Love Cyprus Golden Stage 1 will have a total length of 20.08km and will begin at 11:36 with Love Cyprus Golden Stage 2 (14.50km) starting at 12:29. The total time from both of the Love Cyprus Golden Stage will declare the winners.
Following that, the crews will then head to Molos in Limassol where the Ceremonial Finish will bring this three-day battle to an end at 15:00.
