Fran Suárez-Néstor Gómez favorites to renew their victory last year with the Ford Fiesta R5
Ayoze Benítez-Patricia González want to continue their first place in Arucas with the Porsche 911 GT3
Tato Suárez-Aday Luján, another theoretical team candidate for the podium with the Ford Fiesta R5
Qualifies for several promotional cups such as the Yaris of the Enma-2RM Trophy
This Saturday, June 24, the seventh edition of the Era del Cardón-Villa de Agüimes Rallysprint will be held under the organization of the Escudería Fan Motor, which has brought together a broad list of 66 participating teams, with several candidates for podium places and a large registration in the different promotional cups. Some teams will travel from other islands as "La Era" is eligible for the Canary Islands Championship, in addition to the Las Palmas Provincial Championship.
In the order of favorites, the Tenerife team of Fran Suárez-Néxtor Gómez has to be placed at the top, who already won last year with this same Ford Fiesta R5 MKII. Ayoze Benítez-Patricia González with her more experience on the Porsche 911 GT3 and after winning in Arucas last April, she could stand up and add excitement to the fight for first place overall. The other Ford Fiesta R5 of Tato Suárez and Aday Luján should also be close by.
After these clear candidates, a wide range of vehicles and drivers opens up to be fighting very close to the podium, as is the case of the Rally 4 cars of Nelson Climent-Tino Vega (Peugeot 208) and Suso Lemes-Aitor Cambeiro (Ford Fiesta R2T), or the Honda Civic Type-R by Alexander Santana-María Puga. And very close to the previous ones, the Clio Rally5 of Víctor Valido-Javier Santana, Iván and Naira Cabrera or Jesé Ramos-Alejandro Falcón.
And as drivers of proven speed, we are sure to set times at the top of the classification, Ayose Moreno-Francisco Gutiérrez with Honda Civic, Juanillo Betancort-Juan Carlos Díaz (Toyota Corolla Twin-Can), Javier Ramírez-Minerva Llarena, Jonay Fragiel- Idaira Aguiar and Víctor Antonio Afonso-Luis Alejandro Hernández, with two Mitsubishi Lancer Evos.
And to take into account the performance of other teams such as Jonay and Kevin Rodríguez with the Peugeot 106 S16 and the Lanzarote team Javier Ciprés-Miguel Angel Rodríguez, especially if the revised Civic Type-R finally works as it should.
Also not missing from this iconic stretch of the Cardón Era are Anyelo Padrón-Narciso Pérez with the BMW 325i or José Javier Rodríguez-Eduardo Martín with the Opel Corsa OPC.
The event counts towards almost all the same one-make cups as the major rallies , and we'll see the Yaris cars of the Enma-2RM Services Trophy in action with ten teams, among which Gregorio González and Bernardino Guerra stand out as clear contenders. The Best Debutants Driver and Co-driver Trophy will have 15 entries. The Marbella Canarias Cup will feature two cars, the Clio Cardones-Prodrive Cup five, and the 1.6 Tyre Motorsport Hankook-La Madera Cup ten. Six drivers have also entered the FALP Promotion and Junior-FCA trophies. Some drivers and co-drivers will be competing twice this weekend, also participating in the Santa Lucía de Tirajana slalom.
CLASSIC LAYOUT AND HEADQUARTERS IN THE NEW FAIR GROUND
In this seventh edition, the format of the most traditional section of "La Era" is resumed, between the Barranco de Balos and the Finca Falcón Cresta, since due to the festivals in the town of Corralillos the route of the last seasons cannot be carried out. The section now has a distance of 8,44 km in the "Era del Cardón-Agüimes" version (one way) and 8,59 km in the "Agüimes-Era del Cardón" direction (return).
Another novelty is that this year the order of the sections will be carried out first from south to north (first leg), with the aim of lengthening the connecting section and thus the drivers and tires will not arrive so cold at the starting line. A variation carried out by the Fan Motor organization based on the recommendations of the pilots themselves based on the experience of other years.
And finally, the venue of the test is greatly improved, since it will be located in the Agüimes Fairgrounds located in Cruce de Arinaga, recently inaugurated by this City Council in the southeast of Gran Canaria. A much more comfortable and modern place to host all the rallysprint infrastructure, such as the work park, regrouping, test office and trophy presentation.
Last year the test was won by Fran Suárez-Néstor Gómez with Ford Fiesta R5, who at the end of the year also took the 2022 regional rallysprints title.
On Friday afternoon the program begins at the new Agüimes Fairgrounds in Arinaga with vehicle verifications from 16 to 20 p.m. On Saturday, the first section starts at 8:30 in the morning and the last of the six scheduled at 16:50 p.m., with a final trophy ceremony at around 18:30 p.m.
