Enrique Cruz Wins Villa de Adeje Rally as Title Race Narrows to Two-Man Duel

The Villa de Adeje International Rally confirmed a clear trend in the Canary Islands Regional Championship: a significant gap has opened up between the two main title contenders and the rest of the field. The intense duel between Enrique Cruz and Alexey Lukyanuk pushed the competition to a new level, with Cruz winning the Tenerife event by just 3.6 seconds after 100 kilometers of timed stages.

This victory—Cruz’s fourth consecutive win at this event—highlights how far ahead this pair is from the rest of the pack. Both drivers finished more than a minute ahead of the third-place finisher, illustrating that the championship is effectively a two-man race. In the standings, Lukyanuk leads with 109 points, thanks to his performance in the TC Plus, while Cruz sits just two points behind following his recent wins.

The race was decided by fine margins, including a five-second penalty given to Lukyanuk for a technical error at a chicane on the first day. Without that penalty, the gap at the finish would have been a razor-thin 1.4 seconds, even closer than their 3.5-second battle at last year’s Rally Senderos Isla de La Palma.

Cruz, co-driven by Yeray Mujica in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, relied on a strategy of consistency to fend off Lukyanuk’s attacks. While the Russian driver managed to close the gap on stages like the second pass through Atogo, Cruz remained steady enough to neutralize every challenge.

This raises questions about how the rest of the season will unfold. While the current hierarchy is dominated by these two, the six-week break before the next event leaves room for other teams to improve. For fans and the industry, this high level of competition is exactly what makes the championship exciting, with the title fight likely to go down to the final event of the year.