Simone Tempestini won the fourth victory in the Maramureș Rally, the second stage of the season, even though he has encountered technical problems over the last 40 kilometers, and is an authoritarian leader of the standings.
The award podium after the Baia Mare race
The pilot from Napoca Rally Academy took over from the first special test, when he created an advantage of 11.1 seconds compared to Norbert Maior, his teammate and his main follower, and at the end of the day, after 3 successes, he had reached an advance of 35.7 seconds.
On board a Porsche 997 RGT, the Cluj consolidated its position, despite the fact that no less than 16 cars with the latest Rally2 configuration were. A major malfunction on the transmission on the last two samples was about to get it out of the calculations, but Tempestini managed sensationally and remained a leader, although the gap to the end dropped from almost a minute to 6.6 seconds. Norbert Maior imposed on the last two samples, but it was not enough to win the detriment of Tempestini. The general podium was completed by Andrei Gîrtofan.
“It's a sensational victory for me. Together with Carmen (no Carmen Poenaru, co -pilot) we had to manage a difficult situation and we are glad that, despite the technical failure, we have ticked a success.“, said Cluj.
This is the leader of the general standings after the first two stages, becoming a favorite to the absolute title with the number 10 of his career. From Maramureș, Simone Tempestini will go directly to Sweden, where he will compete in the third stage of the European Championship.
Maramureșului rally had a total of 10 special samples, on a length of 120 kilometers. Tempestini was the fastest in 5 of them, Andrei Gîrtofan in two, Norbert Maior, and Matteo Bernini, just 16, in the super special in Baia Mare.
The next stage of Winner Rally will take place on June 21-22 in Cluj.
