Severe crash in the European Rally Championship – special stage was halted

Csomos, who had shown promising speed in the ERC series, was impressively third after the first special stage on Friday morning. But then a crash occurred.

Csomos crashed severely, which led to the special stage being halted. It is reported that the car experienced forces of 17 G’s during the collision with a building.

According to a published photo from the crash site, Csomos and his co-driver Attila Nagy escaped without serious injuries, but they were taken to the hospital for further examinations.

The leading drivers in the ERC series had managed to complete the special stage before Csomos’ accident. The Hungarian had placed third in Thursday’s qualifying stage, so he was supposed to be the third car on the road, but his qualifying run was disqualified due to his car being underweight.

Spanish driver Alejandro Cachon took the lead on Friday morning when the rally truly started.

The competition began on Thursday evening with a short spectator special stage, where Cachon was only 19th. But once the proper stages began, Cachon floored it.

Cachon set the fastest times on two of the morning’s three special stages. However, the Spaniard couldn’t escape from the others, as the defending rally winner, French driver Yoann Bonato, and his compatriot Mathieu Franceschi, are just 3.8 seconds behind.

“The stage was quite long, lots of types of asphalt, very demanding for the tyres and the brakes. We managed really well, try not to push the tyres. The time is OK,” said Cachon, who is competing with Toyota’s new Rally2 car, at the end of the fourth special stage.

Three more special stages are scheduled for Friday afternoon in the Canary Islands following a service break. The competition concludes on Saturday.

Standings of the Rally Islas Canarias ERC rally after SS4/13