WRC Tour de Course podium - accomplishment, milestone, victorious run

04.04.2019

The Russian crew went up to the World Rally Championship podium in the WRC 2 category in its second start already.

Last weekend Nikolay Gryazin and Yaroslav Fedorov started the tarmac event of the World Championship – Rallye Tour de Corse – for the first time in their careers. The difficult and demanding race submitted to the SRT crew from the very 1st time, Nikolay and Yaroslav podiumed it.

The large-scale test program prior to the race allowed Nikolay to find suitable settings for the Rallye Tour de Corse and join the fight at once. He started the rally in the 6th place but moved up to the 3rd position at SS2 already, giving away his first day only for experienced leaders: test driver of VW Motorsport Eric Camilli and two-time French tarmac champion Yoann Bonato. At the special stages unknown to all participants, Gryazin showed excellent pace and at the same time managed to save the car from damages (there was no mid-day service on Friday route).

During the second day, the competitors switched to the special stages already used in the Rallye Tour de Corse route. Nikolay began to dally away and in the morning rolled back from the 3rd position to the 5th one affected by both the experience of the opponents and the uncertainty in pace notes. After the mid-day service and the checking of the notes, he managed to speed up a little, and also some opponents' problems allowed him to finish the day in the 2nd position.

On Sunday Nikolay had to keep the 2nd position and at first this goal was even surpassed: technical problems of Fabio Adolfi, the leader of the race at that moment, allowed our crew to get ahead and take the lead in the WRC 2 stage for the first time in the career. However, at the final special stage of the race, having more fresh tires, Adolfi won back the lost time and Nikolay Gryazin and Yaroslav Fedorov finished 2nd.

"In spite of the fact that it is only the 2nd place, we are pleased with our result because it is very good for a debut start. The race was very difficult, and many of our more experienced opponents couldn't evade problems. We didn't have any problems with the car throughout the race and would like to thank our team for this. We would like to say "Thank you" to Michelin as well, its tires did an excellent job. Special and many thanks to the fans for supporting us during the race. Now we're looking forward to our next start at the World Championship!"  Nikolay Gryazin

Find more info on nikolay-gryazin.com