Giovanni Trentin and Valentino Ledda, the very young drivers of ACI Team Italia, opened their second sports season in rallying with their debut in the Finnish Rally Championship. Between Friday, January 12th, and Saturday, January 13th, the drivers faced their first competition on snow at the Auto Sorsa Riihimäki-Ralli, the inaugural round of the Finnish series, where they achieved excellent results. The challenge, developed on 9 special stages for over 100 kilometers of total route around Riihimäki, was completed with Trentin securing the third position in the Rally4 category championship, joined by Danilo Fappani in a Ford Fiesta prepared by Lorenzon Racing. Meanwhile, Ledda finished in the seventh position, with co-driver Claudio Mele in a Renault Clio from TGS Motorsport. Both the cars are equipped with Pirelli tires.

For the sixteen-year-olds, it was a more than positive first outing, undertaken with the main objective of covering as many kilometers as possible to increase awareness and accumulate experience on unfamiliar and uniquely challenging routes. Overcoming several difficulties, in addition to the snow-ice surface studied last year through the Scuola Federale ACI Sport Stage, both Trentin and Ledda had to face pre-race recce from the right seat, with their co-driver in the rear seat and another driver at the wheel. The complex task of note-taking was compounded by the uniqueness of night stages, testing the ACI Team Italia youngsters. Yet, the young Italian talents managed to exceed expectations, increasing their pace over the distance, improving their timings in individual special stages, and even finding some satisfaction towards the end of Saturday.

 

"All in all, it was a positive weekend," said Giovanni Trentin, "because we managed to increase our pace and improve despite some complications. Especially in the first-night pass, we had a problem with the light pod positioning, which practically made us face the sixth stage without visibility. In the end, we were able to improve our position. For the first rally, against many local competitors, without making any major mistakes, we can say it went very well, and we have gained valuable experience."

"The goal was to cover as many kilometers as possible and complete the rally," commented Valentino Ledda, "so, I would say, it went very well. The local drivers have an incredible pace, and the scenery and special stages are fantastic. We were not so concerned about the performance as much as the experience. We significantly improved the result in individual stages, starting cautiously and finishing in a clear upward trend. Unfortunately, we couldn't place higher in the overall standings also due to a couple of penalties, but it's all part of the journey. It's a good start, so let's keep going."

 

 

 

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