Ex-professional basketball player Carlos Garcia Fessman joined three times PWRC World Champions Ralliart Italy for the first time last month at Rally d'Italia Sardegna. Rally Finland marks not only Fessman's return to the WRC, but also the European debut of Ralliart Italy's second Venezuelan car. Fessman will be joined by team mate and countryman Jos Alexander Gelvez to take on the fast flowing Finnish roads as part of the WRC 2 Championship.
Pleased with his performance in Italy, Fessman was also struck by the high level of competition and the endurance training necessary to tackle any WRC event. The long days in Finland will be as demanding as any on the WRC Calendar. No stranger to top level sport, Fessman has undertaken cardio training three times per week to prepare for this challenge, alongside adopting a new healthy diet to reduce his weight.As well as this off-stage preparation, Fessman is making sure he gets in some vital on-stage kilometres. This weekend we can be found competing in the NACAM regional championship event in Peru. He'll take to the South American roads in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, the previous evolution of the Evo X he'll use with Ralliart Italy in Finland.
Fessman believes these vital ingredients will stand him good stead ready for his return to Europe next week where he'll start his trip to Finland with a pre-event test: "I have great expectations of Rally Finland. It's one of the most difficult rallies in the WRC and I really want to make a step forward there from where I was in Sardinia. We know there are very fast stages and we must improve our stage times. The main goal is to finish the event, getting more experience and kilometres under our belt to improve our performance and achieve a better result!
"It'll also be great to have Alex as my team mate. We're a strong team. We work together every day and try to help each other to be the best we can on events. We want to represent Venezuela in the best way possible and fly the our flag as high as we can!"
Fessman's team mate Gelvez works in aeronautics in Venezuela. His first WRC event was earlier this season at Rally Mxico where he also competed in the same team as Fessman. Now he's looking forward to his first event outside the Americas. Gelvez prides himself on his personal fitness, enjoying extreme sports, trekking, climbing and playing football in his spare time. He hopes this will help him at Rally Finland.
Ralliart Italy Team Manager Bruno De Pianto can't wait to work with Fessman again and to welcome newcomer Gelvez: "We are very happy to be working with Venezuela and their Ministry of Sport once more. It's great to have not one, but two drivers competing with us. They both want to promote the name and values of their country around the world via their participation in the WRC and they have a fantastic new matching livery in Venezuela's colours. It's Carlos' second time in Europe and Alex's first outing, but they're both taking it very seriously and I hope they get the results they deserve!"
