The Abarth 124 Rally has enjoyed another very highly successful weekend in European rallying with class wins coming after giant killing and hard-fought performances in rounds of both the highly competitive French and Slovenian Rally Championships.
In France, the Milano Racing team, with young charger Nicolas Ciamin and navigator Thibault De La Haye in the cockpit, came home first in the GT+ category on the 70th Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières-Rhône, the second round of the Championnat de France des Rallyes 2018 (French Rally Championship). Not only that but the French pair finished in an impressive eigthh position overall in a highly competitive rally.
Ciamin and De La Haye dominated the “GT” category, leading from the start and finishing the first day’s five stages with an advantage at the front of more than 30 seconds. On the second day, they won another four special stages, claim their first class win of the season, having come home in second position in the season opening Rallye du Touquet. They also won the Michelin Cup, which is awarded to the first 2-wheel drive car.
To win the GT class the Abarth crew had to fight off a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup driven by Patrick Rouilland and Guilhem Zazurca, which finished P11 overall, while the other two entries in the category, a BMW Z3 Coupé M and Lotus Exige trailed in near the tail end of the seventy two cars that finished the fifteen stage, two leg rally.
"On paper, this route was not in our favour, but we discovered that the Abarth 124 Rally is also competitive on fast roads that require a lot of power,” Ciamin said afterwards. “We managed to beat our direct rivals in the championship and we are ready for the next challenge.”
Success for the Abarth 124 Rally last weekend didn’t end there as the Bernini Rally team enjoyed an excellent result on the 8th Rally Vipavska Dolina in Slovenia, the opening round of this year's national rally championship.
Not only did they clean up in the R-GT category, albeit a formality if they reched the finishline as they were the only class entry, Italians Andrea Nucita and Marco Vozzo finished in a stunning third position overall, with the additional satisfaction of winning the last special stage outright, ahead of numerous cars running in the higher performance R5 category and equipped with four-wheel drive traction. The crew also posted a second fastest overall stage time as well as four third fastest times on the ten stage rally.
Seeded at No. 7 they finished the rally just a minute adrift of the winning Peugeot 208 T16 R5 and 18 seconds behind the second placed Hyundai i20 R5. Behind them fourth and sixth places went to two more 208s with Mitsubishi Evo X in between them.
In a perfect nod to rally history there were also two iconic Lancia Delta HF Integrales in action on the rally, albeit neither of the legendary Italian machines made it to the finishline.
"With this exceptional performance, we have demonstrated that the Abarth 124 rally may be the right car to shine in all of the championships,” said a delighted Nuscita after the rally. “Race after race, we continue development work that is making it even faster and more reliable.”
Photos: Abarth 124 Rally (season 2018)
