The Italian rally female champion will face the Italian WRC round for her very first time.
Rachele Somaschini will be at the starting line of the next Rally Italia Sardegna (RIS), the Italian round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), which will be held from October 8-11 hosted by the town of Alghero.
Rachele, the RS Team SSD flag bearer, this year has been competing in the ERC3 Junior in the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC), but had to give up the next stage of the top continental series in Portugal, Rally Fafe Montelongo – which replaced in extremis, in the beginning of October, the Azores Rally which was cancelled due to COVID – in order not to miss the long-awaited chance to take part in the Sardinian rally entry list.
It is a dream coming true for the young driver (26 years old), who will face for the first time the amazing Sardinian world stages, on the Citroen DS3 R3T of the RS Team, managed as usual by Sportec Engineering. On the right seat there will be Giulia Zanchetta, co-driver from Bassano, already joining Rachele in the European campaign.
As a prelude to her Sardinian debut, Rachele Somaschini included in her program the last weekend’s participation in the Rally Adriatico Marche. The race was the third round of the Italian Rally Terra Championship but at the same time inaugurated the 2020/2021 season of the Challenge Raceday Rally Terra, a series dedicated to gravel roads to which Rachele has signed up after having already competed in the last edition. This rally therefore represented a useful opportunity to continue the refinement path of driving on gravel, of which the young driver feels the need, as well as an important preparation for the imminent RIS.
“Participating in the Rally Italia Sardegna has always been my goal, as well as a dream. – said Rachele – I am really excited to have this opportunity and I can’t wait to be on the starting line. Stages such as Monte Lerno, Coiluna-Loelle, Sassari-Argentiera have now entered the hearts and minds of all rally drivers and enthusiasts, and I can’t wait to face them as a protagonist. It is also my personal challenge: being able to share the message of my #correreperunrespiro campaign to fight cystic fibrosis in such a difficult competition, as I did at the legendary Rally Monte-Carlo, shows that with commitment and perseverance you can really overcome all limits. Sardinia is a region that has always been very close to my project, towards which it has shown sensitivity and great support, so for some time I have been trying to participate in the race also for expressing gratitude to all the fans who support me. My competition goal, on the other hand, will be to have fun and to continue my path of growth and harmony with Giulia in view of the next commitments in the ERC. A huge thanks goes to all the sponsors who support me and who have given me the opportunity to complete this project which is very dear to me”.
This world challenge will represent an excellent test and a further growth opportunity for Rachele in the future, as she awaits her return into the European limelight on the asphalts of the Rally Hungary at the beginning of November.
