Last weekend’s Rally di Roma marked not only the first round of the European Rally Championship season, but also the return of international rallying as a whole.
Here, we’ve gathered some of our favorite shots from over the weekend at one of Europe’s best asphalt events.
Craig Breen leads a herd of "sucky calves" around Rome, waiting to get going for the first high-profile rally since Rally México in March. A strong run to fourth on still-in-development MRF tires showed Breen was truly mad for bulling in Rome.
Credit: FIA ERC
Dani Sordo won the RallyStars event for WRC-specification cars in Rome. At times he felt like he could "stop and take a coffee in some places"; with backdrops like this, could you blame him for doing so?
Credit: Hyundai Motorsport
What might have been? Giandomenico Basso backed off on Saturday to bank Italian championship points, but was catching Alexey Lukyanuk on Sunday. Had Andrea Crugnola been around on Saturday to pressure him, Basso may well have upped the ante.
Credit: Pirelli
This is what Adrien Fourmaux's Ford Fiesta R5 briefly looked like, before the M-Sport junior turned it into a pile of rubble in a high-speed crash on Saturday morning. M-Sport's mechanics will have their work cut out to get it looking like this again...
Credit: FIA ERC
Oliver Solberg lost his glasses on Saturday morning, leaving them on the roof of his Volkswagen Polo and then driving off. Thankfully he did just fine without them and didn't need to resort to this back-up pair...
Credit: @OliverSolberg01 (Twitter)
A two-hour delay to the rally itinerary on Saturday meant the crews reached final service after darkness had already fallen.
Credit: Hyundai Motorsport
Petr Nešetřil piloted his Porsche 997 GT3 to third place in ERC2, but wins our completely made-up award for best-sounding car on Rally di Roma. The song of its straight-six would make even Pavarotti proud.
Credit: FIA ERC
Determined. After crashing out on Saturday's third stage Rachele Somaschini – who suffers from cystic fibrosis – returned on Sunday to finish sixth in ERC3 Junior.
Credit: FIA ERC
Adam Stec wasn't quite able to emulate Usain Bolt with his Jamaican-looking livery, finishing 21st in ERC and 35th overall. It was also his birthday on Sunday, his thematic mid-rally party substituting cake and a candle for pizza and a spark plug.
Credit: FIA ERC
Roberto Gobbin's lucky rabbit didn't have the desired effect last weekend. He lost a likely ERC2 podium thanks to a 2m30s penalty, turning up 15 minutes late for parc fermé on Saturday night.
Credit: FIA ERC
A thrilling battle for ERC3 victory went Ken Torn's way after Pedro Antunes binned his Peugeot 208 Rally4 on the final stage. Co-driver Kauri Pannas was physically shaking from the tension of waiting to see if Antunes would arrive at the finish or not.
Credit: FIA ERC
Rock in Rome: Back at Rally Liepāja in 2018 Alexey Lukyanuk celebrated winning the ERC title with a guitar solo on the podium. It's no surprise that "rock on" is his default podium celebration sans-instrument.
Credit: Pirelli
