ERC
ERC Take Five with Miko Marczyk
Miko Marczyk, the winner of the 2025 FIA European Rally Championship, took time out of his post-Croatia Rally celebrations in Zagreb last Sunday to answer five key questions.
After a momentous season alongside long-term co-driver Szymon Gospodarczyk, this is what the 29-year-old Polish ace had to say.
You’re the winner of the FIA European Rally Championship for 2025. How does that feel?
“It’s something great. For half of my life there have been motorsport activities. First it was karting then, when I was 20, I started to do rallies. There were some ups and downs, but it was necessary to stay on the proper line and be confident that one day dreams come true and this is the day. It was a tough [final] day, but we are the European champions and it’s a big honour for me that we are the fourth Polish crew who managed this after Mr Sobiesław Zasada, Krzysztof Hołowczyc and Kajetan Kajetanowicz. I’m a really happy driver.”
Gospodarczyk and Marczyk celebrate becoming ERC champions
© ERC
To get this far it’s fair to say you’ve worked very hard, just explain how hard and how many sacrifices have you made?
“I would say all my life activities is to organise the rally team and to try to be the best and a good a driver as possible. I would not call it very hard work because it’s my life and I’m doing what I can to be the best in what I’m doing. In March I did a Guinness World Record for the greatest distance driven on a single tank of fuel. I drove 2831 kilometres [from Łódź in Poland to Paris and back again] in a Škoda Superb and I was really happy about it because I don’t just drive fast. I would also say it’s a funny story about my daughter because she was born just after the Colosseum stage on Rally di Roma Capitale, we were on the road section to Fiuggi [when I found out], so I was really happy.”
Top Pole flew high in Croatia en-route to the ERC title
© ERC
Your consistency has been incredible this season. How satisfied are you with your performances in 2025?
“I would say we were not very good in one place, but we were good in every place. It means that five times out of eight races we were on the podium, we were reliable, we haven’t made mistakes, we haven’t got punctures. The toughest was to compete with Jon [Armstrong] and Andrea [Mabellini], who were, in many moments, faster than us, but we were using our strongest cards and this year we manage to win. After Andrea retired [on leg one] it was necessary to focus more. With 90 kilometres to go Jon was in a proper push, his second half of the season was very strong, and he was the fastest out of us three. But finally I reset well and came back [on leg two] with a fresh head and we could achieve what we achieved. It’s not only the effort of three days but it’s half of my life and I really appreciate the support of everybody. I would like to thank a lot Andrea and Virigina [Lenzi] and Jon and Shane [Byrne], it was really tough for me and Szymon to stay here in the first place. I was thinking it would may not be possible to fight for this title because Andrea was a little bit faster than me as a driver. But he had a little more mistakes and I was more consistent. Jon was a little bit slower in the first part of the season, but in the final part of the season he was the fastest driver in all of the ERC so big congrats to Jon. But… we were on five podiums on eight rallies, we did the best season of our lives and we are the champions.”
Marczyk celebrates with some of the team behind the dream
© ERC
How crucial was your co-driver Szymon in your success?
“Completely. I’m very happy that he is European champion but he’s on the world level. I’m really glad I have such a guy on the right seat. We also had a very good package with my Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 and our Michelin tyres.”
Engineer Marcis Kenavs talks set-up with Marczyk
© ERC
What’s next? Will you defend your European title?
“I would like to come home and be happy of this moment and that every time I wake up and look into the mirror there will be my dream come true, I will look at the European champion and that’s something special for me. I’m not planning too much for the next steps. In the next days there will come some ideas but, for now, I want to be satisfied with what I’ve achieved. It would be great to come back to defend my title but now I must be happy with this.”
