A 2019 full of satisfaction for the Abarth 124 rally that honored the 70th anniversary of the brand with many victories.
Firstly, it won the FIA R-GT cup for the second consecutive year, with Italian Enrico Brazzoli, then it topped the podium again for the second year running, in the Two-Wheel Drive and GT Trophies of the Spanish Asphalt Rally Championship with Alberto Monarri. And it made Italian Andrea Nucita Champion of the Abarth Rally Cup in the ERC European Championship.
Luca Napolitano, Head of EMEA Fiat and Abarth Brands, is visibly proud of these results: "2019 has been a year experienced just like Carlo Abarth would have wanted: full of victories, which have become even more important because they date to the year of the 70th anniversary. In its third racing season the Abarth 124 rally has confirmed her status as queen of the Gran Turismo category, having won almost one-hundred victories to this day in both the international and national races, in line with Carlo Abarth's philosophy. From the very beginning, he had always wanted to give his clients outstanding, reliable racing cars that would guarantee excellent performances, and win races".
In the FIA R-GT championship the Abarth 124 rally again won the title gained last year, with the Italian team comprised of Enrico Brazzoli and Manuel Fenoli. The FIA R-GT Cup 2019 includes 8 races. The Italian team made its mark in the first three: the difficult and prestigious Rally in Montecarlo, the challenging Tour de Corse and the Sanremo Rally, laying the foundations for the final victory.
Enrico Brazzoli (Bernini Rally Team): "To win the FIA R-GT championship in the 70th anniversary year has been a source of great satisfaction for us. And our joy was then enhanced by an even more prestigious victory, that of the Tour de Corse, one of the most difficult races in the championship, won on the anniversary of Abarth's birth, March 31st".
In Spain too, the Abarth 124 rally confirmed itself as the 2-wheel drive Trophy champion of the Spanish Asphalt Rally Championship with Spanish Alberto Monarri and Alberto Chamorro of the SMC Junior Motorsport Team in the front seats.
A championship won three races ahead of schedule, with the great pleasure of a victory in the Islas Canarias Rally, valid for the European ERC Championship.
Alberto Monarri (SMC Junior Motorsport): "The victory in the Canary Islands was wonderful for us because it coincided with the 70th anniversary of Abarth. The passion for rallying is something that forms in you at an early age and for me, becoming an official Abarth Spain driver and racing for them is truly a dream come true. ".
The season of the Abarth Rally Cup - the championship of 6 races disputed in the ERC European Championship - was also enhanced by the duel between the Italian team led by Andrea Nucita and the Polish one of Dariusz Polonski. A challenge that lasted until the very end, -with Italian Andrea Nucita in fact only triumphing in the last stage of the last race of the season - the Rally of Hungary.
Andrea Nucita (Bernini Rally Team): "It was already great to win the Abarth Rally Cup, but doing it in the year of the 70th anniversary is unforgettable. My Abarth 124 rally? Fast, perfect handling, fun to drive ".
Qualities that have also allowed the Scorpion's spider to win and show off outside these championships. For example in France, where the very young French driver Nicolas Ciamin, showed he was capable of competing with the most powerful all-wheel-drives in the R5 category, winning some of the special stages in the French championship. And in other countries too, such as Belgium, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland, the Abarth 124 rally made a strong impression. In Italy, it won the R-GT category in the Italian Cup with Roberto Gobbin, having driven it to success 4 times in the national races.
Overall Abarth 124 rally has racked up nearly one hundred wins in three seasons in the championships of 16 different European countries.
Turin, 4th December 2019
