🇧🇬 Nikolay Gryazin

A second-generation driver whose paperwork has changed more often than his pace. Gryazin was born in Moscow in 1997, the son of rally driver Stanislav Gryazin and younger brother of Vasiliy, and began competing in Latvia in 2015.

His competition nationality has moved four times. He entered as Russian, then under the Russian Automobile Federation flag, then as a neutral FIA entrant after sport's governing bodies barred Russian national representation, and has held a Bulgarian licence since 2024. The results underneath were continuous: a first European Rally Championship win at Rally Liepāja in 2017, second overall in the 2018 ERC with the Junior U28 title, the Latvian championship in 2020, and a first WRC2 victory at Rally Finland in 2019 on only his first season in the series.

Then a long wait. He was WRC2 Challenger runner-up in both 2023 and 2024 before finally taking the title in 2025, sealing it at the season finale with co-driver Konstantin Aleksandrov. The pair moved to Lancia Corse HF for 2026 as the reigning Challenger champions.