Graham Leads FIA EHRC After Thrilling Opening Leg

Ernie Graham has completed the opening leg of Lahti Historic Rally, the first gravel event of the 2024 FIA European Historic Rally Championship season, in front by 24.4 seconds.

Competing in a Group B-homologated Ford Escort RS 1800 Mk2 alongside co-driving daughter Anna, Category 4 pacesetter Graham moved into first place on the final stage of leg one, becoming one of three drivers to hold top spot during an action-packed Friday in Finland.

Petter Fausko was on course to lead at the overnight halt, but the Norwegian dropped out when his Opel Kadett GSI 16V was struck by driveshaft failure on SS6, leaving Graham ahead followed by Belgian Category 3 driver Christophe Jacob (Ford Escort RS 1800 Mk2) and Austria’s Lukas Schindelegger (Ford RS 2000 Mk2).

Tibor Érdi Jr’s hopes of a hat-trick of FIA EHRC event wins suffered an early setback when the Hungarian lost almost six minutes stopping on SS1 with a loose ignition wire on his Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4. Although a repair was quickly made, there was more delay when the car initially wouldn’t restart. However, once Érdi Jr did get going he was unstoppable with the fastest time on Friday’s five remaining stages. He’s sixth overnight, 1m50.3s off the lead.

After winning SS1, Jari-Matti Latvala dropped to second behind Ville Silvasti on SS2 before he was forced to retire his Toyota Celica ST165 on SS3 with a timing belt issue.

Finn Silvasti took the lead on SS2 in his Audi Quattro A2 but crashed out on the next stage.

Pole Maciej Lubiak went no further than SS2, his challenge ending when he went off the road in his Porsche 911 SC.

German Siegfried Mayr’s first FIA EHRC appearance in his recently completed Saab 99 was curtailed by water pump failure on SS4. But there were no such problems for Finn Jukka Jalonen (Audi Quattro A2) and Italy’s outright FIA EHRC points leader “Zippo” (Ford Escort RS 1800 Mk2), who hold fourth and fifth respectively.

Ford Escort Twin Cam-driving Briton James Potter heads the Category 1 order in seventh, one place ahead of Piotr Gadomski, the top FIA EHRC Front Wheel Drive Trophy contender in his Toyota Corolla AE82. Jesus Diez Villarroel completes the FIA EHRC order in his Volvo Amazon 122 S.

Covering 70.94 kilometres, leg two on Saturday August 24 includes two passes of the 14.82-kilometre Miehola stage, the longest of the rally.

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