extends lead in standings

After a gruelling rally, Ralliart Italy-run Italian pairing Max Rendina and Mario Pizzuti were pleased to finish on top in the FIA WRC 2 Championship Group N Cup this weekend at Rally Poland. Starting the day with almost eight minutes over second-placed Juan Carlos Alonso, their main focus was navigating the stages successfully in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X to reach the finish unscathed. They achieved this comfortably and came home first in class to pick up a maximum 25 Group N Cup points.

Cutting a steady path through the wet SS21 and SS22, Rendina relaxed a little on the increasingly familiar SS23 Mikolajki Arena and won the stage. After safely working his way through SS24, the final stage of the day and of Rally Poland, Rendina topped the Group N Cup podium, increasing his lead in the series standings to 39 points over Alonso, his nearest rival for the title. With only one nominated round left to go, it’s all to play for as Rendina looks to the second half of the WRC season to complete his Group N Cup campaign.

For now, Rendina is focused on celebrating his win in Poland: “It’s been an interesting weekend. I can’t say this was the easiest event of the season for Mario and me, but in the end we got a good result and we’re very happy with that. I learnt a lot, like I do on every new WRC round, and I was pleased to complete all the stages without any problems. Now I’m looking forward to relaxing this evening!”

Ralliart Italy Team Manager Bruno De Pianto is delighted with Rendina’s performance this weekend: “Coming to this event, we really didn’t know what to expect, so it’s fantastic for Max to have claimed this fourth Group N Cup win this season out of only six rounds started. Not a lot more to say really other than well done! He’s in an even stronger position to win the title now, but this is rally and we can’t count on anything, so we’ll stay focused and keep doing our best moving forwards.”