Most people accept compromise; nobody really likes it. Not Andrea Mabellini – and especially not his co-driver, Virginia Lenzi.
“When you put your helmet on, there is just one goal,” she says.
“To be on the top and to be in front of everybody else.
“I already said to Andrea that we don’t have to be emotional. This year we changed quite a lot of things – car, team, it’s all Italian – but one thing doesn’t change: I want to win.
“So the goal is there, and we have to focus on it.”
That goal is to become European Rally champions; to atone for 2025’s near-miss and become the first crew since Piero Liatti / Luciano Tedeschini to steer a Lancia (on all rounds) to the ERC title.
This program – Mabellini’s first in conjunction with a manufacturer after several years as a Škoda customer – is exactly what they’re after, as there are no compromises whatsoever.
Mabellini was a contender in a Fabia. He aims to be champion in an Ypsilon
“Everything is set,” Mabellini says. “For this year there are no compromises.
“OK, maybe at the beginning we need to test the car and get things sweet to me or simply getting used to the specific things that the Lancia will do.
“But for the rest, I think we have a great package, great knowledge about the European Rally Championship because there are no new races this year.
“OK there is Portugal, but we did it in the past so it’s quite OK. I hope to see at the end of the year, another trophy – the big one missing at our home!”
The Italian uses the term “our home” with good reason, as he and Lenzi aren’t just a partnership in the car – they’re in a relationship outside of it too.
While common at lower levels of the sport, it’s rare for partners to climb the professional ladder together – but Mabellini and Lenzi make it work.
The pair have been together since 2017, and only once season since (2020) have they not competed together.
The Italian pair work hard to separate their personal life from their professional
“It’s special and also strange,” says Lenzi, “because you feel at home when you are with your partner. So we are professional in the rallies but when we go back to the room we are Virgi and Andrea.
“We are partners that work together. So it’s not easy sometimes because we have some arguments and so on, but in some ways it’s also easier because you know each other better than anyone else!”
“But you need to be good at one thing: remembering that once you are in the car, the rest of the normal life must be [switched] off,” Mabellini adds.
“Because if you keep a little bit of your normal life inside the car can generate a big problem because there is extra stress or something like this.
“You just have to be focused on what you need to do and she will do the rest.”
As a team, the pair rose from Rally5 to Rally4 to Rally2 in the space of just two years, mostly within the ERC. Winning their first ERC event in 2024, they mounted a title challenge in ‘25.
Mabellini was in the title fight until the final round last season
But for some “bad luck” – retirement from Rally Hungary’s “Russian Roulette” on the penultimate stage, and that controversial recce penalty in Wales – they could have ended the season as champions.
That’s naturally frustrating, however pressing rewind, as Mabellini says, is not an option. Instead they must lock in and deliver on their potential.
The good news is their level looks strong. The Italian crew’s stage win tally from ERC 2025 was matched only by Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne, who’ve since gone on to impress in Rally1 this year.
“It’s so good to see Jon and Shane in the WRC,” says Lenzi. “For sure it’s a dream also for us. But for now our main goal is to perform in the ERC.
“We have a goal, we have to go for it. Then maybe it will be good for us to maybe have a chance in a few WRC events. Maybe one on gravel, one on Tarmac. It will be good for us, but for the moment it’s just full focus on the ERC.”
There’s that unequivocal focus again. But Lenzi, like her driver Mabellini, is only too aware of the importance of success in 2026.
Like any fledgling crew on the periphery of a world championship set for a major technical overhaul, they know this is their shopping window.
“Of course, half of our mind is there [on 2027],” Mabellini confesses. “It would be very good to climb up to WRC, especially with the new regulation where it’s more affordable. It doesn’t cost less because it’s going to be very, very expensive too, but at least it’s more affordable for everybody.
“Before it was like, OK, we have 10 Rally1 cars, nothing else. Now with this regulation, it seems like Rally1 and Rally2 is going to be quite the same. But at least we have already a baseline that we learned in these years with the Rally2, and you can use it in different opportunities because WRC is even longer in terms of special stages, three days and so on.
“So it’s going to be even more difficult. But we still have one year to prove and then we will see for the next one.”
Competing with Lancia is a dream Mabellini will realize more once he's had time to reflect
The emotion of striving for this with Lancia is obvious. Mabellini recognizes it’s “quite crazy” as an Italian driver, but “we will discover it probably in the future”.
“It’s difficult to see in the moment what is happening,” he argues. “It’s just when you look behind you see what you have done.”
One day Mabellini and Lenzi strive to look back on 2026 as the year they truly made their mark. Nothing else will do.
After all, there can be no compromises.
Join Club DirtFish to watch the full interview, where we play the popular ‘Mr & Mrs’ game with the pair.
