Before the start of the race the crew of Eurolamp WRT was asked which special stages of this northern Rally de Portugal were their favourite, and the driver and the co-driver were all of one mind.
Valeriy Gorban Vladimir Korsia liked the 28-kilometers Marao (SS9 and SS12).
“Firstly, it is a beautiful route. There is one section of it, we called it the “Space”, and it is just impossible to describe the exterior of this section in words. It is like the corridor with stone walls. It is a very narrow passage through a mountain which requires low speed and maximum accuracy. And there are many huge rounded boulders around. And this boulders are like extraterrestrial origin… But Marao stage is even more beautiful in terms of the crew. Regular changes of surface, alternations of narrow and wide places, constant changes of pace – it is a fair pleasure to race on such stages!” – described one of Saturday’s stages Valeriy Gorban.
It is worthy to note that during morning Saturday’s section the crew passed theirs favourite stage not only with pleasure but also with a good result. The duo of Eurolamp WRT was ninth in WRC2 category. Furthermore Gorban and Korsia overcame the longest special stage of the race, a 38-kilometers Fridao, with strong result too – they were the seventh in WRC2. Plus, opponent troubles – problems of Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Jari Ketomaa – had played not last role. As a result, after first three Saturday stages Ukrainians climbed to the ninth place in intermediate results list of WRC2.
Unfortunately, after the day service the crew of Eurolamp WRT could not keep their morning pace. Subscribers WRC+ channel had the opportunity to watch Valeriy Gorban and Vladimir Korsia replacing left front wheel on theirs MINI John Cooper Works S2000. Regrettably it was only consequences of the troubles that had occurred a few kilometers before. Moreover, it was only the beginning of a difficult final day.
“In the beginning of SS9, in one of the narrow bends of very narrow segment, we had driven slightly faster than needed. As result our car hit a wall and flipped. Fans quickly returned the car on the track, but as it turned out front left tire had damaged at the moment of contact with a wall. So we had to overpass a few kilometers to find a wide space where we could replace the tire. In total, were lost about five minutes on it “, – said Vladimir Korsia.
“Alas, but it was not all of our adventure. We had another puncture on the following special stage. It happened about 5 kilometers next to the finish, and we overcame this distance on three wheels till could replace the tire on the road section. Well, in the end of the final special stage of the day after a little jump the drive was broken. Fortunately, it happened just seven hundred meters to the finish line, so we almost lost no time on this one …”
A poor consolation for the team and its fans was the fact that the crew of Eurolamp WRT returned to the top 10 of WRC2 again. Before the last three stages of Rally de Portugal, which is 56 kilometers long, Valeriy Gorban and Vladimir Korsia occupied the ninth position.
