The first day of Rally Alūksne included two passes of 11-kilometers special stage Mārkalne. But even 20 kilometers were enough to make the fans of Eurolamp WRT nervous.

In according to the intermediate results list of the rally, Valerii Gorban and Sergey Larens have had very good Friday evening – the crew of Ukrainian team won both SS1 and SS2, and occupied the position of the rally leaders. But a few unpleasant moments left behind the scene.

First of all, during SS2 the Eurolamp WRT duo caught up slowly safety car and lost some time because of that. Fortunately, the stewarts took in the situation and recouped the rally leaders 3 seconds.

Second of all, in according to Valerii Gorban, on the first kilometers of rally course the crew felt not quite comfortable: “During the first pass of the special stage there were a lot of snow crumbs on the road and it was very slippery because of it. Moreover we needed some time to adapt to night conditions. But on the second pass the trajectory had been cleaned therefore the car was able to hold on the road, and we adapted to the dark. So, in general, it was not bad start of the rally for us…”

The main fight for the win of Rally Alūksne will be held on Saturday. The participants will overcome other seven special stages – 78 kilometers else. After SS2 Valerii Gorban and Sergey Larens are the leaders of the rally with more than 5-seconds gap from the closest rivals – the crew of Janis Barkes.