During this weekend, there are plenty of rally events taking place across the globe and many of the WRC2 drivers are using these as a great benefit to warm up for the upcoming FIA World Rally Championship round that will be taking place in Croatia on 22-25 April.
Rally Brasov in Romania it is Mads Ostberg who will be using the event to train, the Norwegian making his debut with the new Citroen C3 Rally2 together with Torstein Eriksen as his co-driver for Tagai Racing Technology – the same team that he will drive for both in the WRC2 and in the Hungarian Rally Championship with.
Just under 120 kilometres of asphalt in Romania awaits the competitors in Rally Brasov, a total of five stages were ran during the Friday and only three stages on the Saturday where the rally´s longest stage is set to take place, There are about 60 cars in the main competition where Ostberg started first.
Simone Tempestini and Dan Girtofan in Skoda Fabia R5s are the biggest threats for Ostberg to claim a victory, they are entered in the Romanian Rally Championship, which the Norwegian does not compete for.
Gryazin warms up in Czech Republic
It is not only in Romania that rallies are run this weekend, in most countries the seasons are starting almost every weekend. The Kowax Valašská Rally ValMez will be the season-opener for the Czech Championship where a total of ten stages of 140 kilometres will be completed.
Four stages of 77 kilometres are on Saturday and the rest on Sunday, on Friday a shakedown was run where Nikolay Gryazin was the fastest. The Russian in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 had after his fourth attempt on the shakedown a 1.3 second lead ahead of the local hero Jan Kopecky in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo.
The next rising star from the Bulacia Wilkinson family is also competing in Europe
In this weekend’s Italian Rally della Val d´Orcia with a total 53 kilometres of gravel on six stages, the next generation of the Bolivian family Bulacia Wilkinson makes their debut in with seems to be a tough start field.
The 20-year-old Bolivian Marco Bulacia Wilkinson has succeed in the WRC3 class where he finished second in last year’s championship in a Citroen C3 R5. This year he has taken the step up over to the WRC2 class as a factory driver for Skoda Motorsport where Toksport WRT is operating the cars.
Now the little brother, 18-year-old Bruno Bulacia Wilkinson is doing his second competition in Europe, he has a total of five seasons on his belt back at home in Bolivia, where after the two-first seasons in a Mitsubishi Lancer he has driven two seasons with a Toyota Corolla Proto.
He made his debut with a Skoda Fabia Rally2 in Rally Terra Valle del Tevere at the end of February, where he finished in a respected third. Now on Sunday he is doing yet another rally and continues for Meteco Corse SRL. Significantly tougher resistance this time with thirty-one entrants in the R5 class where the local stars Simone Campedelli and Alberto Battistolli are among those entered.
