Sebastien Loeb, driving a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, was the winner of the 57th Azoes Rallye, in the Azores, Toyr European Rally Series and Azores Rally Championship, which had three world champions on the podium. Nine times world champion, Loeb couldn’t have wished for a better debut in the Azores archipelago and at the wheel of a car of this category. The Frenchman won five of the twelve special stages that composed the two legs and arrived in Ponta Delgada with an advantage of almost 20 seconds over the competition.
Second place, Andreas Mikkelsen had a similar car to the winner. The Norwegian, who was WRC2 champion in 2021, lost some time in the first leg, attacked in the second but fell behind due to a touch near the end. In the lowest place of the podium was the Spaniard Nil Solans, world junior champion in 2017, who was late in the first leg due to a very conservative choice of tyres but who recovered three positions in the last of the competition days.
Debuting in this edition of the Grupo Desportivo Comercial organisation, Ole Christian Veiby finished the first leg in third place but fell to fourth in the complementary sections after two spins. The Czech Erik Cais also tried to fight for the podium, he was the fastest in a special stage but had a puncture in the Power Stage, the second passage through Ribeira Grande, and returned to Ponta Delgada, the host city, in fifth place.
