Lukyanuk therefore claimed victory on his debut in at the event in Valais having initially finished a provisional second in his Russian Performance Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5. He set fastest time on all the last five stages – partly due to Breen easing off, and partly as his confidence on asphalt grew.
After Breen’s penalty, Lukyanuk and co-driver Alexey Arnautov were awarded the win – their second in the ERC this year, following their victory on the auto24 Rally Estonia. Lukyanuk finishes third in the final ERC driver standings, behind champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Breen.
Emil Bergkvist finished a fantastic fourth on his four-wheel drive rally debut. The ERC Junior champion took full advantage of his title-winning prize-drive to highlight what an extraordinary talent he is, driving faultlessly and growing in confidence with every kilometre.
Florian Gonon was delighted to come home fifth in his Lugano Racing Team Peugeot 207 S2000. Nikolay Gryazin gave the new ŠKODA Baltic Motorsport team a superb ERC debut, when the 18-year old Russian driver finished sixth in a Fabia R5, despite hitting a wall on SS13. He finished ahead of Swiss national driver Pascal Perroud, who temporarily got his Ford Fiesta R5 stuck in a ditch on SS12.
Notable retirements included Jonathan Hirschi (Peugeot 208 T16), Antonín Tlusťák (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) and Raul Jeets (Ford Fiesta R5) all crashed out on the long 33.07 kilometre Les Cols test (SS13).
There was disappointment too for François Delecour, who having set the second fastest time on the all-Tarmac SS11, the FIA R-GT champion slipped to fifth after losing time on the wet and slippery gravel sections on the next stage. However, a leaking radiator was of greater concern, and he was forced to retire from sixth position on SS15.