European Rally Championship: Breen fastest, but Lukyanuk is the winner

Russian driver Alexey Lukyanuk has scored his second victory of the season in a Ford Fiesta R5 at the Rallye International du Valais, the last round of European Rally Championship. Luykanuk became the winner after Craig Breen, the fastest man in the Swiss round of ERC, received two-minute post-event penalty and was demoted from first to second.

Breen was punished because of a genuine mistake by the Peugeot Rally Academy, which gave him to use 20 marked Michelin tyres instead of the allocated 18 on his 208 T16. Partnered by his co-driver Scott Martin, Breen led from start to finish through 17 special stages and won with a 39.4s advantage ahead of Lukyanuk, but the 2-minute penalty reversed the order. Swiss driver Olivier Burri (Citroen DS3 RRC) completed the podium at his home event.

Breen remained on three victories, same as Kajetan Kajetanowicz, but the Polish driver collected more points and secured the 2015 ERC title at the previous event (Acropolis Rally), so he missed the last round. Breen confirmed his second place in the championship standings, but also won the ERC Asphalt Master title.

Hungarian driver Dávid Botka in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX became the 2015 ERC2 champion, after scoring a victory in the last round. A magnificent second half of the season, in which Botka scored three wins in the final four rallies, secured the title ahead of his main rival Vojtech Štajf. Štajf had led for most of the season and he was quick again in Switzerland, scoring seven fastest stage times, but his Subaru Impreza WRX STI stopped on the final stage.

Emil Bergkvist secured ERC3 and ERC Junior titles before the last round of the championship, so he was awarded with a drive in RC2 class car for the Swiss round. In his first outing with Peugeot 208 T16 Bergkvist showed impressive pace and finished fourth overall.