The Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio Rally will be the first scoring event for the Italian Rally Championship in 2021. Despite the harsh health situation, the organizers have managed to assemble a fabulous entry list, including the presence of World Rally Championship teams.
Thierry Neuville and Craig Breen, accompanied by Martijn Wydaeghe and Paul Nagle, are the main attractions of the event. Both compete aboard the brand’s Hyundai i20 R5s, with the aim of arriving as prepared as possible at the Rally Croatia. This race will be on asphalt, scoring as the third WRC round.
Of course, both drivers of the Korean structure will not have it easy at all. They will compete against very experienced drivers on these roads. One of them is Andrea Crugnola, Italian Champion in 2020, who also competes aboard another Hyundai i20 R5.
Paolo Andreucci, National Champion on eleven occasions, will wear the colors of MRF Tires for the first time in the official rallie, a brand that will accompany him during the 2021 campaign. On this occasion, he got on a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo.
Giandomenico Basso, Fabio Andolfi or Marco Signor are some of the most prominent names among the 38 R5 / Rally2 present in this race. Of course, the various models of the categories GT, Rally4, Rally5 or others such as the S1600 will not miss this mythical rallie.
On Friday morning the shakedown is already taking place, the first contact for the participants. Thierry Neuville set the fastest time, but with only a tenth of advantage over Andreucci and Crugnola. The teams will face a total of 91.44 kilometers starting on Saturday. ¡