*Teenager leads European champion Lukyanuk by 9.7s after opening day in Latvia

*Home hero Sesks third on first of two ERC Junior prize drives *Estonian federation-backed Torn edges ERC3 Junior fight

*Sirmacis marks return to action by heading ERC2 *Poloński in front in Abarth Rally Cup after problems for Nucita

Seventeen-year-old Oliver Solberg leads on his debut at the top level of the FIA European Rally Championship on Rally Liepāja, heading Alexey Lukyanuk and fellow ERC1 Junior star Mārtiņš Sesks into the final day in Latvia.

Solberg, the son of 2003 world champion Petter, has led from the start in his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 and had been quickest on four of the five high-speed gravel stages run so far.

While a half-spin on the final stage of the first loop allowed reigning ERC champion Lukyanuk to close in, Solberg responded to open up a 9.7-second advantage during the two afternoon tests.

Lukyanuk began the day cautiously in his Saintéloc Junior Team-entered Citroën C3 R5, but a quickest time on SS3 allowed him to move into second place and close to within 3.8s of the lead. While he had no answer to Solberg’s speed in the afternoon, he continues to keep the teenager under pressure.

Sesks has also impressed on his ERC1 Junior debut, with the 19-year-old Liepāja resident holding a podium position on his maiden outing in an R5 car as the first of two prize drives for winning the Pirelli-supported FIA ERC3 Junior Championship title in 2018.

He has an 11.6-second advantage over fellow ŠKODA Fabia R5 driver Chris Ingram, having been quicker than the ERC1 Junior points leader on all but the final stage. Ingram pledged to give everything to match the speed of the top three over more familiar stages on Sunday.

Team STARD’s Japanese driver Hiroki Arai completed the day in a fine fifth overall on his first day driving a Citroën C3 R5, but he faces a time penalty after he was seven minutes late out of remote service when his car failed to start.

ERC championship leader Łukasz Habaj is sixth overall despite missing a junction in SS4. The Sports Racing Technologies driver increased his margin over seventh-placed Filip Mareš to 11.9s when the ACCR Czech Rally Team driver had an overshoot of his own on SS5.

Cypriot Alexandros Tsouloftas is eighth overall on his first high-speed gravel rally while Sweden National Team’s Mattias Adielsson and Norbert Herczig both leapt into the top 10 at the end of the day, with the Hungarian just 5.8s ahead of Marijan Griebel.

Eyvind Brynildsen was ninth until he conceded around a minute in SS5, dropping to P14 to avoid running first on the road on Sunday’s final leg when the top 10 positions at the end of leg one are reversed.

ERC rookie Vaidotas Žala had passed Arai for fifth in SS2 only to suffer a puncture and go off the road on the following test, costing him five minutes in total.

Ralfs Sirmacis, an ERC Junior graduate and former winner of Rally Liepāja, leads ERC2 in P12. With three of his closest rivals ruled out of contention during the morning, his class advantage is a comfortable one over Abarth Rally Cup leader Darius Poloński, who overhauled Andrea Nucita in SS5 after the Italian lost time with gearbox and brake issues.

Ken Torn leads ERC3 and ERC3 Junior by 12.8 seconds over fellow Ford Fiesta R2T driver Jean-Baptiste Franceschi and Norwegian Peugeot 208 duo Sindre Furuseth and Steve Røkland, who both lost time after problems on SS2. Catie Munnings is on course for an ERC Ladies’ Cup win in P14 in ERC for the Peugeot Rally Academy.

Torn opens a lead in tight ERC3 Junior battle
Ken Torn leads fellow Ford Fiesta R2T driver Jean-Baptiste Franceschi in a tight battle in the FIA ERC3 Junior Championship on day one of Rally Liepāja. Entered by the Estonian Autosport Junior Team, Torn became the third different ERC3 Junior leader in as many stages when he was quickest on SS3, but another fastest time on SS4 helped him to finish the day 12.8 seconds in the lead. Franceschi, who took the ERC3 Junior win on asphalt last time out in the Canary Islands, improved stage-by-stage during the day as he moved up from seventh place. Going quickest on SS5 allowed him to take second overall away from early leader Sindre Furuseth. Saintéloc Junior Team driver Furuseth was quickest in SS1 but fell to fifth after picking up a front-right puncture towards the end of SS2. After recovering ground, an overshoot in SS5 left him third at the end of the day, five seconds behind Franceschi. Fellow Norwegian Peugeot 208 R2 driver Steve Røkland rose from sixth to first on SS2 before slipping back to fourth with minor suspension damage. ERC3 Junior points leader Efrén Llarena was quick out of the blocks – second fastest in SS1 – and was then pushed down to seventh after SS2, but the Rally Team Spain youngster ended the day fifth, 5.9s away from Røkland. Pedro Antunes was as high as third at one point on his debut in a 2019-specification Fiesta and sits sixth overnight for FPAK Portugal Team ERC, with ACCR Czech Rally Team’s Erik Cais seventh and ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team driver Grégoire Munster eighth. Ninth-placed Kristof Klausz showed promise with the third-best time on SS5. Roman Schwedt is P10 in ERC3 Junior, frustrated by a series of overshoots, with Dominik Brož one place behind. Gregor Jeets, Torn’s stablemate in the Estonian Autosport Junior Team, lost eight minutes when he stopped with a turbo issue in SS3.

Poloński on top in Abarth Rally Cup
Dariusz Poloński took the lead of the Abarth Rally Cup away from Andrea Nucita on Saturday’s final stage on Rally Liepāja, as home hero Reinis Nitišs hit trouble. Nucita, on his first gravel appearance in the Pirelli-equipped Abarth 124 rally, made the early ground in the one-make category, going fastest on the opening two stages. Despite a technical issue slowing him down on SS3, the Italian went into remote service with a lead of 14.6 seconds over Poloński, and increased that to 23.9s in SS4. However, he then lost 42.4s relative to his rival in SS5, complaining of a braking problem and hitting a chicane. It means Poloński holds a lead of 18.5s over Nucita heading into the final day. Latvia’s FIA World Rallycross Championship star Nitišs is making his Abarth Rally Cup debut and enjoyed a good fight with Poloński during the opening loop, ending it just 4.9s behind. An ECU failure forced Nitišs to stop in SS4, but he will rejoin on Sunday.

Returning Liepaja winner Sirmacis out front on ERC2 debut
Ralfs Sirmacis is heading for another success on Rally Liepāja, this time in the FIA European Rally Championship's ERC2 class on his debut in the category. The Latvian – a graduate of ERC Junior who won his home event outright in 2016 – is in P13 overall and has an advantage of more than four minutes in ERC2 after his closest rivals hit trouble during the opening loop of stages. Vytautas Švedas was second, just 3.5 seconds adrift of Sirmacis, in the opening stage but stopped with a gearbox issue in SS2. That handed second place to Dmitry Feofanov, but he rolled his Mitsubishi on SS3, as did third-placed Sergey Remennik. Darius Poloński is second overnight after passing Andrea Nucita for the Abarth Rally Cup lead in SS5. Meshari Al-Thefiri from Kuwait is fourth in a Mitsubishi – just 0.3s behind Nucita – with Zelindo Melegari fifth.