After a troubled first day at Rally d'Italia, Italian driver Max Rendina fought back hard in his Ralliart Italy-run Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X to finish a strong third in the WRC 2 Championship Group N Cup and collect 15 points towards his title campaign. Rendina now lies 32 Group N Cup points ahead of nearest rival Juan Carlos Alonso with two rounds to go.
A short day of 46,84 kilometres, Rendina started Day Three with only two new tyres and had to be careful to conserve the tread of the two used ones he selected throughout today's stages. Despite this challenge, he topped the Group N Cup field on all four tests on the Day Three itinerary and was pleased to reach the finish ramp 19.5 seconds ahead of fourth-placed countryman Gianluca Linari.
Rendina's next round will be Rally Poland 26-29th June. It will be his first time on the Mikołajki-based event, but he's hoping to use it to prove his potential once more: "After a strong start to the season with three back-to-back victories, the last couple of events have proved a little tougher for my co-driver Mario and me. We really wanted to put on a good show for our home crowd this weekend. I just hope our performance today made everyone proud! Now we're already looking ahead to Poland and how to prepare best to pick up as many championship points as possible. Our sights are firmly set on the Group N Cup title, but along the way our understanding of rallying and the different conditions that can be thrown at competitors has increased ten-fold. We both feel really lucky to have the opportunity to compete in the WRC this season."
Ralliart Italy Team Manager Bruno De Pianto is pleased at Max's comeback this weekend: "It's never easy to suffer a misfortune on Day One of a rally and come back, calm and focused and work your way onto the podium. I - like the rest of the team at Ralliart Italy - am really proud of Max and Mario's performance this weekend. One of the greatest skills any crew can have in rallying is knowing how to make the best of a bad situation and that's what's kept Max at the top of the Group N Cup standings. Noone ever has a flawless season, but Max is in a strong position and I'm confident he'll come out fighting in Poland too!"
