The new European Rally Championship season opened at Spain’s Rally Sierra Morena with victory for Nikolay Gryazin.
The WRC2 regular underlined his undeniable asphalt pace with a winning margin of 46 seconds over renowned Tarmac man Yoann Bonato – who continued to show his humor at stage ends with quick witted quips.
José Antonio Suárez completed the podium ahead of title hopefuls Andrea Mabellini (who won the powerstage) and Miko Marczyk.
But beyond the result of what was an all-new rally in the ERC, there were the interloping Rally1 cars, “something really stupid” that spoiled a former WRC winner’s weekend and the series debut of an ex-F1 driver.
So what did we learn from Rally Sierra Morena?
Locals may not always dominate
Gryazin took his first ERC win on Tarmac, preventing a local Spanish driver from taking the spoils
A strong theme of the 2024 ERC season was local stars grabbing the overall win and, at times, overshadowing the title protagonists.
But that might not be the case this year with Gryazin – admittedly himself not a full-timer in the 2025 ERC – besting the talented hoard of Spaniards.
Quickest on the qualifying stage unlocked Gryazin’s route to victory, as it gave the Škoda pilot the cleanest road – a clean road he and those around him quickly dirtied to the chagrin of Mabellini and Mads Østberg in particular.
However it was the third stage of Saturday’s loop, the 16.9-mile Villaviciosa, that was key for Gryazin. Taking what proved to be the best tire choice (medium) in the morning, he was 18.5s quicker than any of his ERC rivals on the first pass and 11.6s on the second.
That gave him the luxury of a manageable lead on Sunday – which he managed to add to anyway – to secure his first ERC win in four years.
Suárez had been a lot closer before a puncture, but still grabbed his first ever ERC podium with third
As for the locals, Suárez was the only one (in the ERC at least) in the same zip code as Gryazin. But a rear-left puncture on Sunday’s opener dented any desire of hitting back at Gryazin, and allowed Bonato – winner the last time the ERC was in Spain (Rally Islas Canarias – to move ahead.
Alejandro Cachón was the only Rally2 driver to be faster than Gryazin initially (albeit with a drier road), but barely featured in the overall narrative of the rally given he was not ERC registered.
After six stages, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 was 10.1s clear of Gryazin’s Fabia RS Rally2 but Cachón dropped five minutes on SS8 and retired as a result – satisfied with what he’d learned and produced with an eye on his upcoming WRC2 campaign.
Verstappen shows promise
On a weekend where his son Max reminded the Formula 1 world just why he has won each of the last four world championships with an underdog Japanese Grand Prix victory, Jos Verstappen put in a solid performance too on his ERC debut.
Even if the final result doesn’t necessarily suggest it.
Verstappen Sr has been rallying for three years now, and his progression is obvious with his flawless start to 2025 domestically in Belgium. But the ERC was always going to be a sterner challenge.
However Jos was a creditable seventh in qualifying (earning fanfare for a certain word his pacenotes used to describe bad conditions…) and initially ran inside the top-10 once the actual rally began.
Adapting to roads far more flowing in nature than the junction-ridden tests he’s used to, nailing the pacenotes and braking points was a clear learning curve for Verstappen who ended up 13th in the ERC, five minutes off the winner.
Winning the new-for-2025 ERC Masters title is not what will get Verstappen out of bed in the morning, but the 53-year-old did snare a comfortable win in that category for his efforts in Córdoba.
“We don’t need to forget I’m over 50, but still my aim is higher,” he said. “We will do a lot to improve, and we will keep going.”
Three title challengers start badly
Fourth and fifth places may not have been what Mabellini and Marczyk were dreaming of in Spain, but compared to three of their expected 2025 title rivals, this was a strong start.
Jon Armstrong looked destined for something big after qualifying – the M-Sport driver second fastest and the only one to be in Gryazin’s league.
Armstrong leaves Spain pointless after showing strong speed but not pulling it together
And despite a stall on Friday’s superspecial, Armstrong was still fast and threatening – only for him to mishear a pacenote on SS4 and slip off the road, losing a minute in the process. The Irishman then retired for good on Sunday morning with a spin that broke a steering arm.
2022 champion Efrén Llarena made a low-key start to the event but had climbed up to fifth after six stages. But that charge was halted with technical trouble aboard his Citroën meaning, like Armstrong, Llarena has already used up his dropped score.
Østberg meanwhile was left to lament “something really stupid” that robbed him of pace for several stages.
“You see the pedal?” he said at the end of SS10. “This clip was bent and it was holding the throttle down, so we were overboosting and burning the brakes all the time.
“It was full of dirt inside, probably from yesterday all the mud from my shoe was stuck holding the pedal down all the time and we were constantly overboosting and burning the brakes.
Problems plagued Østberg who finished a frustrated eighth
“Now it’s a different car – from something that stupid, I cannot believe it.”
Back up to speed, Østberg looked set to score sixth place, but his “transmission failed on the start” of the powerstage and cost him two positions right at the end, leaving him eighth.
Advantage Michelin
A brand-new addition to the ERC last year, the tire suppliers’ championship went down to the wire with Michelin edging out Pirelli by just three points.
But Michelin was clearly top dog at Rally Sierra Morena with a podium lockout, and four cars in the top-five places. Mabellini’s Pirelli shod Škoda was the highest non-Michelin car in fourth.
That gives Michelin an early lead over Pirelli with Hankook, represented by Mille Johansson (seventh) and the retired Robert Virves, third.
MRF, who counted on the efforts of Stéphane Lefebvre (ninth) as Simone Tempestini and James Williams both crashed, props up the table.
Juniors will be tight again
Pérez beat rival Carlberg by just 3.4s in Spain
After over two hours and 10 minutes of driving, 3.4 seconds were all that decided it.
For Sergi Pérez, it was delight – a Junior ERC win on his ERC debut. For Calle Carlberg, it was despair – five seconds faster on the powerstage, but it wasn’t enough to steal the win.
“The day you see Calle Carlberg smiling with a P2, you should call a doctor,” Carlberg remarked.
Without doubt, the young Swede will be a contender for this year’s title. But equally without doubt, Junior ERC will be just as close as it was in 2024.
Estonian Jasper Vaher completed the podium, while last year’s champion Mille Johansson impressed on his step up to the main category.
On his first Tarmac event in a Rally2 car, the Swede took seventh overall and two top-four stage times.
Neuville gets away with one
Neuville placed higher than Evans in the classification, but got away with one on Saturday
It’s strange for the defending World Rally champion to be in town, and not be the center of broadcast attention. But running as car #84, with current WRC leader Elfyn Evans also in action as #85, Thierry Neuville was barely even noticed.
But the Hyundai completed Rally Sierra Morena’s 13 stages narrowly quicker than Evans’ Toyota with both only there to bank mileage ahead of the WRC’s Rally Islas Canarias (April 24-27).
Clearly, we can’t read too much into the result without speaking to either driver or team, but fan footage did reveal Neuville got perilously close to disaster negotiating a right-left sequence of bends. The initial turn-in had already caught out James Willliams in the ERC field – the Welshman’s Hyundai i20 N Rally2 careering into the protective barrier.
That essentially came to Neuville’s aid, as the world champion lost the rear of his Rally1 example and drifted through the corner, glancing the barrier that had been pushed back in Williams’ accident. Had the barrier not been moved, the contact would have been far more substantial.
It was the sort of wild escape that could mean nothing, but could equally be viewed as a turning of fortune for a driver striving to turn the tide on a man who’s had it all his own way so far in 2025.
