Team Spain enjoyed a flying start to grab the Overall and Gravel class leads in the Rally2 and Rally4 categories on Friday morning, while Great Britain and Italy head Historic Rally.
The action kicked off with a trio of stages held on the mountainous dirt roads to the west of Valencia. Following a further three legs this afternoon, a Super Special Stage will conclude the itinerary at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
A gold medal awaits the fastest crews in each of the dedicated Rally2, Rally4 and Historic Rally Gravel divisions, while the combined times at the end of the day will carry forward for the nations contesting the Overall categories ahead of Sunday’s deciding Medals Stage.
Spain bolted to a clean sweep of stages in Rally2. Alejandro Cachón / Borja Rozada topped the leader board in their Toyota GR Yaris, finishing the three routes with a total time of 28:27.3s. Hot on their heels is Türkiye’s Ali Türkkan / Oytun Albayrak, who sit 33.5s further back after a hat-trick of second-fastest runs aboard their Ford Fiesta. Oliver Mellors / Ian Windress (Proton Iriz) from Great Britain occupy third at the break.
The host nation has entered an alternative line-up of Jose Antonio Saurez / Alberto Inglesias Pin to specialise in Rally2 Gravel. The Spanish pair sit first in class at the break; the Škoda Fabia runners stopped the clock at 28:28.7s to edge Türkiye and fellow Fabia entrants Rokas Steponavičius / Dovydas Ketvirtis for Lithuania.
Topping the overall Rally4 order is Sergi Perez / Axel Coronado as Spain’s stars continued to excel. They sit 18.7s clear of Team Slovakia representatives Martin Koči / Petr Těšínský – fastest on Stage 3 from Utiel to Calderon. Brazilian duo Luis Eduardo Stedile / Carlos Enrique Morales were third quickest. With those countries all contesting the specialist Rally4 Gravel category, the top three carries over.
Ben Mellor / Alex Lee have placed Great Britain at the front in Historic Rally, the Toyota Celica pair ending the morning with a combined time of 33:40.5s. Reigning gold medallist Italy (Andrea Zivian / Nicola Arena) twice finished second. Added to a third place in the opening stage, they are the current runners-up. Father-and-son duo Kjell and Peter Fransson guided their Renault Alpine A310 to third for Sweden.
Zivian / Arena’s run in their 1981 Audi quattro earns top spot in Historic Rally Gravel. They lead Great Britain’s dedicated gravel line-up of Ernie and Anna Graham (Ford Escort RS) by a slender 10s. Kim Sevius / Alexander Alin hold third in their Volvo 544 Sport as part of a rotated entry for Sweden.
The Rally schedule resumes at 14:23 local time.