Avbelj and Kobal claim two stage wins and finish just outside the top ten,
bitter retirements for Pollara and Johansson, while Hakalehto completes a gritty rally.
MS Munaretto rounds off an intense weekend full of talking points, split between the asphalt of the Rally Internazionale del Casentino and the demanding gravel roads of the Acropolis Rally Greece. Two events with very different technical profiles, yet both marked by a high level of selectivity, capable of putting crews, cars and race management skills to the test.
At the 46th Rally Internazionale del Casentino, Bostjan Avbelj lined up with Rebeka Kobal on the notes in the number 2 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, immediately confirming himself as one of the most eagerly awaited contenders. The Slovenian crew opened their weekend with the fastest time on the Bibbiena show stage, before repeating the feat on SS3 and therefore recording two stage wins, once again underlining their outright speed and competitiveness.
The rally, fiercely contested and made tricky by a technical route that was never easy to interpret, saw Avbelj and Kobal finish just outside the top ten after a touch resulted in a puncture. Despite that setback, their performance remained significant in terms of pace and stage times. For MS Munaretto, it was further confirmation of a crew capable of making an immediate impact on the classification, even in a tightly fought context such as the International Rally Cup.
The outcome was decidedly more bitter for Marco Pollara and Giuseppe Princiotto, competing in the number 5 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. The Sicilian driver, fresh from his overall victory at the Rally dei Nebrodi, tackled the Casentino with the aim of continuing his positive run, but found himself facing a complex and far from straightforward event. With the finish line almost in sight, the crew opted to retire on the final special stage of the competition, inevitably leaving a sense of regret for a result that slipped away in the closing moments.
Completing the MS Munaretto line-up on the roads around Arezzo were Aatu Hakalehto and Niklas Heino, at the wheel of the number 50 Lancia Ypsilon Rally4. The young Finn produced a steadily improving first part of the rally, showing progression and good adaptation up to SS4. Some difficulties encountered in the second half of the event, particularly on SS6, then cost him heavily, with around fifteen minutes lost and the chance of aiming for a stronger result compromised.
Despite the setback, Hakalehto and Heino chose to continue, bringing the car to the finish and taking seventh place among the Under 25s. It was a result which, although affected by unforeseen issues, confirms the crew’s determination to keep gathering kilometres, experience and reference points as part of an ongoing development path.
In parallel, MS Munaretto was also in action in the FIA World Rally Championship, with Mille Johansson and Johan Grönvall lining up at the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece in the number 32 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. For the Swedish crew, it marked a return to the world stage after Rally Islas Canarias, this time on completely different terrain: the rough, broken and dusty Greek gravel, capable of challenging even the most experienced competitors.
Johansson tackled the Acropolis stages with great maturity, showing strong command of the car and clear-headed management in a rally where outright speed alone is never enough. Stage after stage, the Swedish driver built a solid performance, avoiding unnecessary mistakes and maintaining a pragmatic approach on special stages that were particularly demanding for the mechanics, tyres and crews alike.
However, Johansson and Grönvall’s run came to an end on SS15, when the crew was forced to retire following an injury sustained by the co-driver during a landing. It was an unfortunate conclusion, arriving after a rally driven with intelligence and personality, and one that does not erase the positives shown up to that point on one of the toughest and most iconic events on the entire world championship calendar.
