Having claimed the lead on the last stage of leg one, Russian driver Lukyanuk was gifted a 43-second margin when Kajetan Kajetanowicz sustained a broken driveshaft on the first test of the final day. A spin on the following stage cost Lukyanuk 22.5s, but he remained 25.3s clear of Moura going into the final loop of three stages and on course for victory on his first time in the Azores.
However, the loose turbo pipe – a problem he also suffered on the last round of the ERC, the SEAJETS Acropolis Rally – on SS14 put Lukyanuk 42.7s behind Moura with two stages remaining. After roadside repairs, he cut that deficit almost in half on the penultimate test, setting up a finely-poised finale. In response, Moura pushed hard and won the final Tronqueira test, with Lukyanuk 5.3s slower and reaching the end with a rear-left puncture.
Driving a Ford Fiesta R5 on MICHELIN tyres, Moura’s win came on his 16th start on the rally and follows third-place finishes on the ERC qualifier in 2013 and 2015. He is the first Azorean driver to win the event since 1971. “My name will be on the history of this rally and I am very, very happy,” he said.
ERC title rivals Lukyanuk and Kajetanowicz completed the first 1-2-3 finish for the Ford Fiesta R5 in the series. Kajetanowicz led much of the first leg before a mistake on the famous Sete Cidades stage on Friday, and the broken driveshaft then left him with only rear-wheel drive for most of Saturday morning before his LOTOS Rally Team could make repairs. He finished up over three minutes down on Moura and is still searching for the first win of his ERC title defence, but does continue to lead the standings.
Kajetanowicz regained a place on the podium when Ralfs Sirmacis retired with a broken steering arm on his Sports Racing Technologies-run ŠKODA Fabia R5 on Saturday’s second stage. Following his incredible win in Greece last month, the young Latvian had been part of a close four-way fight for the win early in the rally.
Dávid Botka climbed from sixth to fourth on the very last stage to complete by far his best performance since stepping up to a Citroën DS3 R5 for 2016 after winning the ERC2 title last season. He finished just 5.6s ahead of Jaroslav Orsák, and that gap was more than accounted for by a 10s penalty handed to the Czech driver for being late into the final stage following a puncture on the penultimate test. Nonetheless, fifth represents a superb result for Orsák on his first start on any rally in almost a year, in a brand new Ford Fiesta R5 that he hadn’t even driven before he arrived on São Miguel.
Pedro Meireles took sixth, just 2.1s ahead of another Azorean driver, Luís Rego, and the Portuguese champion José Pedro Fontes, whose final day speed would have been enough to finish fourth had he not had to change the clutch on his Citroën Vodafone Team DS3 on Saturday morning, costing him a 1m50s time penalty for being late out of service. Ricardo Teodósio took ninth while Antonín Tlusťák just held onto a first top-10 finish of the season, with a penultimate-stage puncture leaving him just 0.6s ahead of Miguel Barbosa in the final standings.
Great pace at the end of day two had lifted Raul Jeets into the top 10, but he retired with two stages to go after damaging the front end of his ŠKODA. Jarosłav Kołtun’s run of top-10 finishes to start the season came to an end after a torrid rally that finished with him off the road on SS12, while Giacomo Costenaro and seven-time event winner Fernando Peres suffered mechanical failures within sight of the finish.