The Abarth 124 rally opens at its fourth competitive season at the Montecarlo Rally, the opening race of the WRC International Championship, where it debuted in 2017.
At the start of the 2020 season, we see the Belgians Luc Caprasse and Renaud Herman with a car from the Belgian Motorsport International team. Caprasse has already achieved successes in Belgium and Germany with the 124 rally, at the Sassonia and Stadt Rallies.
This year, like every other, the biggest difficulty in Montecarlo will be the unpredictable weather. Its changeable nature will make the route even more technical. The both wet and dry conditions will make tyre selection very difficult, although this will enhance the general balance and performance in the 124 rally, which stand out in particular in these extreme conditions, as shown by previous results.
The Abarth 124 rally achieved great results on the tricky Montecarlo route, showing performance, competitiveness and reliability from the outset.
In 2017, at its debut in rallyes mainly on the snowy streets of Montecarlo, the young driver Fabio Andolfi stood out in his category, overtaking the Frenchman François Delecour in another Abarth 124 rally. The slippery roads giving very different traction on many sections of the route, the features of the 124 rally already shone out: great balance, excellent endurance and traction.
In the 2018 edition of Montecarlo Rally, the Italian Andrea Nucita, in a 124 rally, inveigled his way into the four-wheel-drives taking part in the WRC. He achieved fourth place overall in the 9th special stage, Agnières-en-Dévoluy – Corps, the snowiest part of the race.
In the 2019 edition of the race, with the victory of the R-GT category, the Italian Enrico Brazzoli began his run of successes which led him to win the FIA R-GT Cup, basically the Gran Turismo international championship.
This year too, the Montecarlo Rally will be the opening race of the FIA R-GT Cup, consisting of five events. After Montecarlo comes the Rally Ain-Jura in France (March 8-9), the Ypres Rally in Belgium (June 25-27), the Rally Roma Capitale (July 24-26) and Rally Deutschland (October 15-18).
In just three years, the Abarth 124 rally has become the car to beat in the R-GT class, achieving a high level of performance and reilability and winning the FIA R-GT championship two years running, along with another 100 races in the rally category across Europe and 10 international championships. This year, the aim is to confirm its leadership in the category and to continue its run of successes.
The Montecarlo Rally will start at 5 pm on Thursday, January 23 and will finish on Sunday, January 26 at 1:48 pm. The race will be run over 1000 km, with 16 special stages for a total of 304.28 km of timed racing.