The International Rallye Sierra Morena, one of the Spanish Rally Superchampionship (S-CER) events, was the second scoring round of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Iberian Cup. With 11 registered drivers, the single-brand cup organized by Toyota Spain, Toyota Caetano Portugal and MSI was the promotional cup with more participants, among those present in Cordoba. The rally, which began on Friday with the official start in the center of the city, where thousands of fans gathered, was a challenge ahead of all teams, as they faced 196 timed kilometers.

The duo made up of Javi Villa and Enrique Velasco (Asturhíbrido) began by setting the best time in the first stage on Saturday, with just a one-second gap over Carlos Rodríguez (Grupo Breogán) and two seconds over Josep Bassas (IPPON Motor Vallés). After this first special stage, the Catalan driver increased the pace to score two consecutive scratches and take the lead.

The hardness of the rally was felt in this first stage, as there were several withdrawals: Bruno Bulacia (CSM Automoció) and Pedro Lago (Toyota Caetano Auto), due to mechanical failure, while Carlos Rodríguez (Grupo Breogán), Javier Moltó (Kobe Motor), and Ricardo Costa (Macedo & Macedo GTW Racing) went off-road. However, the Portuguese driver was able to previously score a scratch in the fourth stage and thus add the additional point awarded to the winner of each special stage.

At the end of the first stage, Josep Bassas (IPPON Motor Vallés) and Javi Villa (Asturhíbrido) were pulling away from the rest of the GR Yaris RZ drivers, with Miguel Campos (Macedo & Macedo GTW Racing) in a strong 3rd place. José Lamela (Breogán Group) was fourth, Manuel Martins, fifth and José Mulero (Labasa), sixth.

On Sunday, Javi Villa (Asturhíbrido) was not satisfied with second place and set the best time in the first stage of the day, 17 seconds behind Josep Bassas (IPPON Motor Vallés). In the following two stages, two more scratches for the Asturian driver brought the difference to 12 seconds. Then, when there were still three stages to go before the end of the rally, the Catalan driver had to withdraw due to a mechanical problem, leaving Javi Villa (Asturhíbrido) as the sole leader and allowing Miguel Campos (2nd) and Pedro Lago (3rd), who had rejoined the rally after his withdrawal in the first stage thanks to the super rally, to move up one position.

Bruno Bulacia would finish fourth after withdrawal of Manuel Martins in timed stage 10. José Carlos Mulero (Labasa) and José Lamela (Breogán Group) could not score points this time as they had to withdraw in the ninth stage.

These results in the International Rallye Sierra Morena make Javi Villa the new leader of the cup with the Toyota GR Yaris RZ Cup, five points ahead of Bruno Bulacia (CSM Automoció) and 22 points ahead of Bassas.

The next appointment of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Iberian Cup is the Rally Terras D'Aboboreira, two weeks from now (April 27-28), in Portugal, where the teams will have to adapt the configuration of the car for an event that will be held entirely on gravel.

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