Double delight for Team MRF Tyres: Italian Gravel Rally
MRF Tyres also wins the Female Championship
Chennai, 12 Sept 2021: Team MRF Tyres secured second and third places on the podium as MRF Tyres also won the Female Championship in the Italian Gravel Rally Championship (CIRT).
Team MRF Tyres continued its podium winning form in the Italian Gravel Rally Championship (CIRT) and the Rally dei Nuraghi e del Vermentino. The fifth round of the CIRT saw seven stages and 68.08km of competitive action with Paolo Andreucci/Rudy Briani in their Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, Simone Campedelli/Gianfrancesco Rappa in their VW Polo GTi R5 and Tamara Molinaro/Piercarlo Capolongo in their Citroën C3 Rally2 propelling Team MRF Tyres to podium finishes.
Going into the rally, the team was in a strong position after winning the previous round and had high expectations of a good result and gathering important tyre data.
The rally started well for Team MRF Tyres with the first two stages, Telti being run twice on Friday night. Campedelli/Rappa had won SS2, while Andreucci/Briani were equal leaders of the rally at the end of the day. Saturday had the bulk of the competitive action and the fight was intense.
Andreucci/Briani pushed hard, winning SS4 Oschiri 1 and SS7 Monte Olia 3. Throughout the rally, they were inside the top three on every stage, ensuring they were in the mix. Campedelli/Rappa were also putting in a strong performance winning SS3 Monte Olia 1 and finishing second on the rest of the day’s stages.
These performances ensured that the gaps at the top of the timesheets were tight. Going into the final stage, the top three were separated by less than 10 seconds with Team MRF Tyres drivers fighting hard with Umberto Scandola/Danilo Fappani.
By the end of SS7, the final stage of the rally, Team MRF Tyres drivers fought to within 3.5 seconds of the win, with the top three being separated by incredibly small margins.
A technical problem for Campedelli/Rappa after the final stage saw them check-in to a time control late, taking a 20-second penalty in the process. However, the podium success for Team MRF Tyres could not be denied with Andreucci/Briani taking second and Campedelli/Rappa finishing third.
Paolo Andreucci, Driver, Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, “It was a great rally and I am happy to be able to take a podium position with Team MRF Tyres. The car worked well throughout the rally and we were always at the front. “We were able to take another podium position and get more data for the tyres. Thanks to the team for the weekend and I am looking forward to the final round of the season.”
Meanwhile, Molinaro/Capolongo ran a strong rally in their Citroën, maintaining their 100 percent winning form in the Female category. The result allowed the pair to take home the Female Championship, one round before the end of the season. Bringing the car home on every stage with consistent pace, they were able to finish inside the top 10 in the CIRT and, in addition, took fourth position in the Under 25 category. Tamara Molinaro, Driver, Citroën C3 Rally2, said “We had some technical issues during the rally so we lost time with that. It was a challenging rally but we gained a lot of experience and won the Female Championship with one rally to spare so that is fantastic. A big thanks must go to MRF Tyres this year as well! The tyres worked well through the rally and allowed us to get this result.”
One round remains in the CIRT with the 12th Liburna Terra Rally taking place on 5-6 November. Team MRF Tyres will be in action again this week with the fifth round of the 2021 FIA European Rally Championship as Dani Sordo and Cándido Carrera join Team MRF Tyres to drive the Hyundai i20 R5 in the Azores Rallye.
