Driving under the Bulgarian flag, Gryazin set the fastest times on the final two stages of the day. On the penultimate special stage of Saturday, Gryazin narrowly topped the timesheets, but on the final stage of the day, he was absolutely on fire. He posted the fastest time with a margin of over ten seconds.
“I didn’t take risks in the slippery sections. The feeling with the car is much better now. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow,” Gryazin said.
This year, Gryazin’s main programme is in the WRC2 category of the World Rally Championship, but in addition, he’s competing in selected rounds of the European Championship. The Russian driver leads the Rally Sierra Morena by nearly half a minute ahead of home favourite Jose Suarez. In third place is Citroën’s French driver Yoann Bonato, who trails Suarez by 4.9 seconds.
“The time was surprisingly good. I thought I had a puncture on the rear right, but it turned out I didn’t. Sometimes I drive well, and sometimes I’m a complete idiot. This isn’t the first time I’ve thought I had a puncture when nothing had happened,” Suarez grumbled.
In fourth place is Italian Andrea Mabellini driving a Škoda. Fifth is Mads Østberg, also familiar from the World Rally Championship, who is now well over a minute behind the leader. Østberg will have to stay sharp on Sunday, as Poland’s Miko Marczyk and Spain’s Pepe Lopez are both within two seconds of the Norwegian.
The Rally Sierra Morena continues on Sunday with six more special stages, totalling a hefty 115 kilometres.
Standings in Rally Sierra Morena after SS7/13:
| POS. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Nikolay Gryazin | Skoda | 54:56.9 |
| 2. | Jose Suarez | Skoda | +28.8 |
| 3. | Yoann Bonato | Citroen | +33.7 |
| 4. | Andrea Mabellini | Skoda | +51.1 |
| 5. | Mads Østberg | Citroen | +1:07.1 |
| 6. | Mikolaj Marczyk | Skoda | +1:08.6 |
| 7. | Pepe Lopez | Hyundai | +1:09.2 |
| 8. | Robert Virves | Skoda | +1:16.9 |
| 9. | Stephane Lefebvre | Hyundai | +1:23.8 |
| 10. | Mille Johansson | Skoda | +1:29.5 |
