Guess who the favourite might be to win the final round of the 2020 World Rally Championship in December? None other than Valentino Rossi – if someone sees sense and signs him up.
Given the seven-time MotoGP champion’s own positive diagnosis two weeks ago, there could be no more powerful message about how motorsport is managing to overcome the coronavirus.
This year’s final event will be the Monza Rally Show, held at the home of the Italian Grand Prix. It will be a curious mix of WRC glamour allied to the rough-and-ready appeal of a single-venue rally (although the event will feature stages away from the circuit), which for most drivers will be a proper trip down memory lane.
Rossi has won four of the past five Monza rallies and taken seven in total. He has only ever won it in a Ford, so he would be a natural addition to the M-Sport WRC squad – perhaps even offering its most realistic prospect of a rally victory this year.
Another circuit racer who has made a name for himself in rallying is Robert Kubica, the winner at Monza in 2014 (also driving a Ford Fiesta). He’s a man with unfinished business in rally cars and a megastar in Italy. The sort of super-team he could form with Rossi would be beaten in terms of popularity by only one other combination.
Let me explain. If you want to do something special in the present, it’s important to look at the past. In fact, to the fourth-most-successful marque at the Monza Rally Show behind Ford, Lancia and Citroën. Hot on the heels of these rallying giants is a manufacturer you would never have imagined: Alfa Romeo. In 1989, Dario Cerrato won with an IMSA-spec 75. In 1992, it was Nicola Larini’s turn in a 155, followed by Giorgio Francia in a similar car two years later.
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Bring back Lancia!
Why bother pretending Alfa Romeo has ANY rally heritage at all?
When they have the Lancia brand available.
Is the one Lancia model left in Italy still outselling the entire Alfa Romeo range in Europe?
Why yes. Yes it does. Alfa Romeo's total European sales, 2019 of 50830.
Lancia Epsilon total European sales, 2019 of 58820. And this despite a tiny percentage of the marketing and engineering budget of Alfa Romeo? The Epsilon doesn't just outsell it's sister car, the Mito, but ALL the other Alfas too.
Why aren't Stellantis putting some effort back into their only Italian brand with Rally heritage, and the only one that anyone who's been rally gaming knows about?
Bring back the white with Martini stripes on the brand everyone under forty knows!