Rally crews and, perhaps moreso, rally cars stand up to heavy beatings. Alexey Lukyanuk and his codriver Alexey Amautov demonstrated this earlier this year on the very first stage of the Azores Rally. We’ve shown you the breathtaking sights from that island rally, which traverses the volcanic island in the Atlantic and the narrow gravel roads that dot the Azores are frequently cut out of the hills, meaning walls loom on either side of the road. Lukyanuk navigates that pretty well, for the most part, on the opening stage, but he carries just a bit too much speed into one corner and absolutely clobbers a low brick wall over a ditch.
It’s the kind of impact that would have totaled most of the slight European hatchbacks that dot the Azores otherwise, but after a brief pause, Lukyanuk puts his hardened Ford Fiesta into gear and tears off down the gravel stage again to the cheers of the rally faithful. It wasn’t all for naught, either. Lukyanuk finished second overall in the rally, just 28 seconds behind Portuguese driver Ricardo Moura. The Russian Alexeys managed to finish second in the 2016 FIA European Rally Championship, as well, just 22 points behind Polish driver Kajetan Kajetanowicz.
