Gryazin Wins Rally Japan With Lancia and Takes the WRC2 Championship Lead
SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- June 1, 2025 -- Nikolay Gryazin has delivered one of the most dramatic victories of the WRC2 season, winning Rally Japan aboard the Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale and moving to the top of the drivers' championship standings in the process. The 28-year-old Bulgarian-licensed driver and co-driver Konstantin Aleksandrov claimed ten stage wins across the event, surviving contact, a puncture, and a nail-biting final battle with Spain's Alejandro Cachón to seal victory by 15.5 seconds on the closing Power Stage. It is the third WRC2 win of the season for the Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale, and a result that shifts the momentum of the championship picture significantly heading into the second half of the year.