Roma performance was one of the best from Polish talent Marczyk
© ERC
ERC

ERC Take Five Q&A with Miko Marczyk

Miko Marczyk finished last week’s Rally di Roma Capitale leading the FIA European Rally Championship by an increased margin of 22 points following a standout drive to third place.
Written by ERC
3 min readPublished on
The Michelin-equipped two-time Polish champion, whose Topp-Cars Rally Team-run Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 is co-driven by compatriot Szymon Gospodarczyk, took time out to answer five questions from FIAERC.com.
Third place on Rally di Roma Capitale after one of the best drives of your career. How would you assess your performance?
“That was a good race from our side, but I would say it was a small rally dream that happened. I was not thinking it would be possible for me one day to be fighting on Italian Tarmac against Italian guys, but it was like that. For the full weekend we were consistent, no big problems and we were good. I hope we will stay on the same level with the same focus for the next three races.”
Szymon Gospodarczyk and Miko Marczyk have formed a strong alliance

Szymon Gospodarczyk and Miko Marczyk have formed a strong alliance

© ERC

What made the difference – did competing on Rally Montecatini Terme e Valdinievole the previous weekend help you or has the momentum been building since earlier this season?
“Overall we are developing and improving. I am trying not to push the pressure on myself, just drive as good as possible in each race and try to be good everywhere, not just excellent in one place.”
But your performance was much more than that, you and Szymon were sensational, winning stages, leading the rally, finishing as the best non-Italian crew and missing out on victory by 7.4sec after more than 200 kilometres of driving…
“I’m really happy. At one time we were even fighting for the win when at one time I was thinking it was not possible. Now we know much more and we feel better on this type of Tarmac.”
Marczyk tops the ERC title table after five rounds

Marczyk tops the ERC title table after five rounds

© ERC

Your fastest time through the first pass of Torre di Cicerone, the longest of the season at 34.57 kilometres, was highly impressive. What was your secret?
“It was just good driving, only one moment, and we were in the game. I am happy because it’s not been made by the mistakes of others that we had this time, it was just from our performance. The first part was about the push and after 15-20 kilometres of tyre management it was trying to be in the rhythm. The Michelin tyres was our advantage on the long stages.”
Third place and five points for winning the Power Stage means you’re leading the ERC standings by 22 points. How much thought are you giving to your title prospects?
“It’s important but we should stay focused. Andrea [Mabellini] is really good, he’s really fast all the time and consistent. We need to do our job to try to do the next three rallies like the five rallies we did already. Every rally is one rally, one step at a time. There is a long way to go, three rallies and it’s possible to do 105 points still and it’s a lot. It’s necessary to be calm, good, fast, have a little bit of luck because this is also important in rallies. And we will fight to the end for the championship.”
The all-asphalt Barum Czech Rally Zlín hosts round six of the ERC from 15 - 17 August.