Christian Merli 6th at the Trentino Rallye

Christian Merli and his co-driver Massimo Furlini, competing in a Skoda Fabia RS, placed sixth in the 3rd edition of the Trentino Rallye, the last round of the Italian Zone 4 Rallye Cup, organised by the Trento Automobile Club and Scuderia Trentina. Merli was always close to the podium on the first day of the race, where the Ala and Brentonico stages were each taken twice. The provisional classification of the first day saw him fourth overall. The race resumed on Sunday with the Volano special stage, where Merli dropped to seventh position. He then pushed through and achieved two fourth best times at Ronzo Chienes and Valle San Felice. He thus climbed to sixth place, which he retained until the finish.

Interview with the 2025 European hill climb champion

“It was good, since we take part in only one rally per year. We’re happy. The special stages were hard-fought, slippery and demanding, and the habitual rally drivers, especially the youngsters, were very strong. We made a few mistakes, that’s how it goes. However, we’ve achieved our goal and we had fun.”

The programme

The event began on Saturday at 16.28, when the start was given to the first special stage, the Ala – Sant'Antonio, called "Metalcenter" and 2.8 km long, followed at 16.59 by the Brentonico – Avio, called "Le Cont" and 9.8 km long. They were repeated at 19.28 and 19.49, respectively. On Sunday there were three more, Volano – Punto Camper (7.60 km), Ronzo Chienes – Consorzio Vallagarina (7.37 km) and Valle San Felice – Zuccari (6.36 km). The respective second runs took place at 14.14, 15.25 and 15.49. The rallye consisted of 360 km in total, of which 66 km made up the ten special stages.

Translation by Ruth Scheithauer

Foto Andrea Dalmonech