Cagiao Wins Almería Rally, Secures Second CERA Title; Cruz Second

Despite a huge effort, Enrique Cruz from Tenerife and his co-driver Yeray Mujica, in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, had to settle for second place yesterday at the 50th Costa de Almería Rally. This was their debut at the event. Jorge Cagiao from Galicia, with co-driver Javier Martínez in his Alpine A110 GT+, took the win. Cagiao's victory secured him his second consecutive Spanish Asphalt Rally Championship (CERA-Recalvi) title. Cruz, for his part, is now very close to securing the runner-up title. He currently leads Daniel Berdomás, who finished fourth at this event, by 24 points. This means Cruz only needs to finish in the top 10 at the Ciudad de Valencia rally, the final race of the season on the last weekend of November.

Cruz and Mujica started strong, winning the first stage on Friday night. However, on Saturday, Jorge Cagiao quickly found his rhythm. From then on, a pattern emerged: Cagiao consistently set the fastest times, with Cruz always close behind in second. This continued from the second through the tenth stage. In many of these stages, the gap was less than two seconds, and in stage six, it was an incredibly tight two-tenths of a second. By the eleventh stage, Cruz decided not to take any further risks. He finished that stage in third place, behind Alberto Ordóñez, which left him 23.1 seconds behind Cagiao overall.