1st Round, Azores Airlines Rallye 2018 | Surface: Gravel | Special Stages: 15 | Date: March 22-24, 2018

Alexey Lukyanuk began his 2018 ERC campaign by winning the season opener, Portugal’s Azores Airlines Rallye, on March 22-24. The Russian driver took the lead at the rally’s second Special Stage and eventually dominated the first round of the 2018 FIA European Rally Championship.

Following Lukyanuk all the way to the podium, 10-time Azorean champion Ricardo Moura and Bruno Magalhaes came close to winning on home soil, but had no answer for the winner’s rapid pace on the sandy surface and narrow roads of the mid-Atlantic archipelago’s largest island of São Miguel.

On the final day, Lukyanuk found a way to drive around brake issues caused by a leaking caliper to win Saturday morning’s two long stages, nearly doubling his lead ahead of second placed Moura to 37.8s. After that, Moura’s push for the win ended when he clobbered a bank and spun his Fabia R5, while Magalhaes lost more that half a minute with a broken rear differential.

With its new identity, that includes a third day of rallying and major upgrades to its design, the EKO Rally Acropolis 2018 was presented at the National Library of Greece, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. The Greek Rally, 3rd round of the European Rally Championship (ERC), will be held on 1-3 June 2018.

In its third year after the return to its roots, the Region of Sterea Ellada and the city of Lamia, and to some of its most distinguished special stages of the past, this year the Rally will see two major revivals: the start under the Acropolis and the world famous Parthenon, and the Super Special Stage at the Markopoulo Hippodrome which took place back in 2007. 

The Regional Governor of Sterea Ellada, Mr. Kostas Bakoyannis, said during the press conference of the EKO Acropolis Rally 2018 that the Region's support is part of the political choice to create opportunities for tourism, economy and culture in Central Greece: "The fact that we are here for another year means that we have chosen to support such events because they are part of our growth. It also means that the Rally, beyond its sporting side, also had in the past two years the results we expected for Central Greece: opening up to something healthy can lead us forward in every level. The Acropolis Rally belongs to the whole world, but its heart will always beat in Central Greece, so we will continue to stand by its side" said Mr. Bakoyannis and thanked OMAE and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Dimitris Michelakakis, for the perfect cooperation between the Region and the Federation.