Nikolay Gryazin

Nikolay Gryazin (born 7 October, 1997) is a Russian rally driver. He currently competes in the World Rally Championship-2, the premier support category of the World Rally Championship, for Latvian Rally Team Sports Racing Technologies. He is the son of Russian rally driver Stanislav Gryazin.

Nikolay Gryazin
Nikolay Gryazin in 2018
Personal information
Nationality Russian[lower-alpha 1]
Born (1997-10-07) 7 October 1997
World Rally Championship record
Active years2019–present
Co-driver Yaroslav Fedorov
TeamsSports Racing Technologies, Hyundai
Rallies14
Championships0
Rally wins0
Podiums0
Stage wins0
Total points7
First rally2019 Rally Sweden

Background

A Russian driver with Latvian background, since the beginning of his rallying career, he has been a member of the junior rally program of Sports Racing Technologies.

Career

Early years

With their backing, he first rose to prominence in 2016, in the junior classes of the European Rally Championship, running a full-time campaign in the ERC-3 class with an R2-spec Peugeot 208. From the start he showed speed, but lacked enough consistency. After four rallies in which he failed to finish, he scored a class win at the Polish round in Rzeszowski and a podium at the Czech Rally Zlín. He finished the season placed 4th in the ERC-3 standings.[1] He would also place 6th in the Latvian junior championship that year.

2017-2018: ERC & Latvia

In 2017, Gryazin would make the step-up to four-wheel drive machinery, as he would be using the Škoda Fabia R5 for a full-time outright campaign on the European and Latvian Rally Championships, along with select regional rallies across Europe. Gryazin struggled to take off in the European Championship, only managing a best finish of 5th at the Rallye Açores, until he fought Kalle Rovanperä to take an overall win at the season-ending Rally Liepaja, the Latvian round of the ERC.[2] He finished the ERC season 7th place, and came second in the Under-28 trophy. Back in Latvia, he managed an impressive three victories and finished runner-up in the championship. Gryazin coupled these programs with podium finishes and victories in regional rallies at Estonia, Slovenia, and Finland.

Nikolay Gryazin competing at the 2018 Rally Poland.

The year of 2018 marked a breakout year for the young Russian. In addition to continued full-season efforts in the ERC and Latvia with the Fabia, Gryazin would also tackle the Finnish championship as well. This season would prove to be very successful for Gryazin, as he would take two overall victories in the ERC, one in Poland with a hard battle between himself and Jari Huttunen, and at Rally Liepaja for the second consecutive year. These victories were obtained on the way to a runner-up finish in the 2018 ERC standings, winning the Under-28 trophy as well. Gryazin finished 3rd in the Latvian championship with three victories, as well as taking home 4th in the Finnish Championship with one win. He took additional podiums and victories in regional rallies at Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Sweden, and Norway.

2019-present: World Rally Championship-2

After a big breakthrough year in 2018, it was announced that Nikolay Gryazin and Sports Racing Technologies would make the step up to a full-season campaign in the World Rally Championship-2 in 2019, which would mark his first starts in the World Rally Championship.[3] After two victories in warm-up rallies in Norway, Gryazin made his WRC debut at Rally Sweden, and he would finish 15th overall, and 5th in the WRC-2 class.[4] In his next round at Corsica, he finished 12th overall, and took a 2nd place WRC-2 finish, capitalizing on the attrition of the regular favorites. The rest of his 2019 season campaign is scheduled to be the remaining non-fly away events.

Rally results

Complete WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points
2019 Nikolay Gryazin[lower-alpha 2] Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE
15
MEX FRA
12
ARG CHL POR
13
ITA
Ret
FIN
10
GER
20
TUR
WD
24th 1
Škoda Fabia R5 Evo GBR
13
ESP
23
AUS
C
2020 Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai i20 R5 MON
16
SWE
21
MEX
7
EST
19
TUR ITA
Ret
MNZ 18th 6
2021 Movisport Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 MON
12
ARC CRO POR ITA SAF EST FIN BEL CHL ESP JPN NC* 0*

* Season still in progress.

Complete WRC-2 results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points
2019 Nikolay Gryazin[lower-alpha 2] Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE
5
MEX FRA
2
ARG CHL POR
5
ITA
Ret

FIN
1

GER
5
TUR
WD
GBR 4th 73
Škoda Fabia R5 Evo ESP
11
AUS
C
2020 Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai i20 R5 MON
3
SWE
6
MEX
2
EST
5
TUR ITA
Ret
MNZ 5th 51

* Season still in progress.

Complete European Rally Championship Results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ERC Points
2015 Sports Racing Technologies Škoda Fabia R5 JAN LVA IRL ACO YPR EST CZE CYP GRC VAL
6
34th 10
2016 Sports Racing Technologies Peugeot 208 R2 ESP IRL
20
GRC ACO
Ret
YPR
Ret
EST
Ret
POL
13
CZE
29
LVA
27
NC 0
Škoda Fabia R5 CYP
Ret
2017 Sports Racing Technologies Škoda Fabia R5 ACO
5
ESP
12
GRC
Ret
CYP
33
POL
Ret
CZE
14
ROM
8
LVA
1
7th 59
2018 Sports Racing Technologies Škoda Fabia R5 ACO ESP
2
GRC CYP ROM
27
CZE
5
POL
1
LVA
1
2nd 129
2019 Sports Racing Technologies Škoda Fabia R5 AZO CAN LIE POL RMC
Ret
CZE
Ret
CYP HUN NC 0
2020 Nikolay Gryazin Hyundai i20 R5 ITA LAT
20
PRT HUN ESP BEL 20th* 1*

References

  1. "NIKOLAY GRYAZIN - DRIVER PROFILE". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  2. "52. Azores Airlines Rallye 2017". e-wrc.com. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  3. JB (29 December 2018). "Débarquement de Nikolay Gryazin en WRC-2". planetemarcus.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  4. "WRC 2 in Sweden:Østberg seals Pro win". wrc.com. WRC. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.

Notes

  1. He occasionally competes under a Latvian licence.
  2. Entry run by Sports Racing Technologies.
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