ERC runner-up Lukyanuk injured in fatal test crash

Lukyanuk and co-driver Nikita Gergel were testing in the Novosokolnichesky District of the Pskov Oblast, when they collided with another car, crewed by Vyacheslav Kucherov and Ljadukhin, who passed away as a result.

A statement on Lukyanuk's website says he and Gergel were transported by helicopter to the Nikiforov Russian Center of Emergency and Radiation Medicine in St. Petersburg.

Gergel was reported as being in a serious but stable condition, having suffered open shin factures, which were operated on, as well as blood loss and burns to 18 percent of the body.

Lukyanuk, meanwhile, suffered fractures of the left heel bone, right patella, pelvic bones and sacral vetebrae.

The Pskov Information Agency reports Lukyanuk and the other car were headed in opposite directions, possibly as a result of a safety violation, when a head-on collision occurred.

It has also been reported that that the incident will be investigated by a committee comprised of members of the local Directorate for Road Traffic Safety, the Pskov Oblast committee for sport and physical culture and local federation of automobile sport.

Lukyanuk, 36, has won titles in national rally championships in Russia and Estonia. He has made three WRC starts.

Having finished runner-up to Kajetan Kajetanowicz in ERC 2016, he opened his account for this year with a victory in ERC's Rally Islas Canarias in Spain two weeks ago.

Additional reporting by Gleb Kalanov