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Ares frustrated but fast on his ERC debut

Iván Ares had a frustrating debut in the FIA European Rally Championship in Gran Canaria, but held a fine fourth on the first day before mechanical woes began to strike.

Despite Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés being just his second start in a Ford Fiesta R5 after four years competing in Porsches in his native Spain, Ares held his own with a top-four position after SS5, behind only the similar cars of guest star Mads Østberg, defending champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz and the eventual rally winner Alexey Lukyanuk.

However, he lost around five minutes on the last two stages on Friday when a broken anti-roll bar caused damage to his braking system. Even though he continued to have braking issues on Saturday, he recovered his way back to ninth during the morning, only to suffer a puncture on SS11 that cost him another five minutes.

"I'm hurt, especially for the sponsors, because they have made a great effort so that we were here and we could not give them the reward they deserved," said Ares, who was runner-up in the Spanish championship in 2015.

"In the team they are more optimistic and prefer to stay with the good feelings and the pace we've shown when the car worked properly. We have learned a lot about the Ford Fiesta R5 and it has been an honor to be measured against ERC drivers and a world-class driver like Mads Østberg."

Ares will now focus on Rallye Villa de Adeje, the next round of the Spanish championship, before making a decision regarding the rest of the season based upon his budget.

Zdroj: fiaerc.com