Romania’s best performance as part of The
European Rallies’ Championship in the modern era. This
is the rating of Romanian Sports Automobile Federation for this past weekend’s
performance of Simone Tempestini. In the second stage of the European Rallies’ Championship,
the Azores Islands’ Rally, the Italian-born Romanian rally driver came in 4th.
For his notable feat as part of the rally in the Atlantic archipelago, Radio
Romania International has designated Tempestini the Athlete of the Week.
According to Agerpres News Agency, in the
Azores islands rally, Simone Tempestini and his co-driver, Sergiu Itu, also won
two special events, coming in second in other three. The Tempestini / Itu crew,
driving a Skoda Fabia R5, were outclassed by 50 seconds and 4 tenths of a second
by the all-Spanish winning crew made of Efren Llarena and Sara Fernandez, who
clocked 2 hours, 24 minutes, 58 seconds and 3 tenths of a second. The Romanian
crew’s exceptional trail somehow balanced out their unassuming debut in the ongoing
season. We recall that two weeks ago Tempestini and Itu had to abandon the race
in the first stage of the European Rallies Championship held in Portugal, when
they were a mere 10 kilometers away from finishing the race. At the moment, Tempestini
is 8th placed according to the general rankings, with 23 points. With 45 points, Portuguese driver Armindo Araujo is at the top of the table. Following in descending order are Spaniards Efren
Llarena and Nil Solans, with 42 and 32 points, respectively.
Many-time
Romania’s national rally champion Simone Tempestini was born on August 12,
1994, in Treviso, Italy. He came to Romania with his father, Marco Tempestini, who was hired as a professional rally driver as a
member of the Cluj-based Napoca Rally Academy team. It was also with Napoca
Rally Academy team that, while still a junior competitor, Simone made his debut
in 2009. In 2016 Simone became a world juniors’ champion. Simone was granted
the Romanian citizenship also in 2016.
(EN)