After nine special stages, Gryazin’s lead in the rally has already grown to 34.8 seconds. The Škoda driver, competing under the Bulgarian flag, set the fastest time on one of Sunday morning’s stages and further strengthened his position.
“We were not pushing and just tried to keep the flow. We know where to improve but we couldn’t do it in service. We adapted to the car,” Gryazin commented.
French Citroën driver Yoann Bonato climbed to second place in the rally on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, local hero José Suárez suffered a puncture on the opening stage of the day and dropped out of the fight for the win. Suárez is now more than a minute behind the leader. On the second stage of the morning, the Spaniard admitted he had been overly cautious.
“I drove like a grandmother! Sorry to the grandmothers. Really carefully. Didn’t touch any inside corners. But it’s not bad, better than expected,” Suárez told.
Italian driver Andrea Mabellini is fighting tooth and nail for a podium spot. His gap to third-placed Suárez is just 2.3 seconds. Spaniard Pepe López holds fifth place ahead of Miko Marczyk and Mille Johansson.
Norwegian former WRC star Mads Østberg is only in eighth place. He has already lost nearly two minutes to the leader. Østberg has reported issues at the end of nearly every stage, stating that the brakes are not working properly and that the car is also lacking power.
There are still four special stages remaining in Rally Sierra Morena.
Standings of Rally Sierra Morena after SS9/13:
| POS. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Nikolay Gryazin | Skoda | 1:21:36.6 |
| 2. | Yoann Bonato | Citroen | +34.8 |
| 3. | Jose Suarez | Skoda | +1:09.7 |
| 4. | Andrea Mabellini | Skoda | +1:12.0 |
| 5. | Pepe Lopez | Hyundai | +1:33.5 |
| 6. | Mikolaj Marczyk | Skoda | +1:36.8 |
| 7. | Mille Johansson | Skoda | +1:49.0 |
| 8. | Mads Østberg | Citroen | +1:55.1 |
| 9. | Simone Tempestini | Skoda | +1:57.9 |
| 10. | Stephane Lefebvre | Hyundai | +2:38.7 |
