ERC
Marczyk to “fight to the end” for ERC title gold
Miko Marczyk has vowed to “fight to the end” in his bid to win the 2025 FIA European Rally Championship.
Marczyk, who is co-driven by Szymon Gospodarczyk, completed Barum Czech Rally Zlín in an event personal-best seventh place and with his points advantage still intact.
However, having been 22 points ahead starting the sealed-surface contest, the Michelin-equipped star leads Andrea Mabellini by a reduced 11-point margin with two rounds remaining.
But when dropped scores are factored in, Marczyk actually trails Mabellini by two points based on the Pole having to discount 13 points from his current total and Mabellini having zero points to drop following his non-finish on ERC Staff House Rally Hungary in May.
Marczyk reckoned he could have gone faster on Czech ERC round
© ERC
Speaking following Barum Czech Rally Zlín, which Pirelli-supplied Mabellini finished in third place, 29-year-old Marczyk said: “Four or five stages were good but it was necessary to be consistent all the time with this pace to fight for the podium places, like Andrea has done. We had four or five stages where we lost too much, especially on Bunč and [the final] morning loop. For sure it was the best Barum Rally in my life because we lost around 3/10ths per kilometre to Jan [Kopecký, the event winner], which is overall good driving, but to fight [for the title] it’s necessary to fight for the win in each race and this is why I am not fully happy. But I am open for good competition and I would really like to show the potential of our driving in Wales. I am motivated, it’s the moment of the season where it will be necessary to take more risk.I will fight to the end.”
Italian Mabellini, 26, said: “This [result] was really important, we gained some good points and it’s been great. It could be better with the Hungarian result but, as I said many times, we can be proud of the result we have done because we catch our possibilities but there are still two rallies to go.”
Mabellini is two points ahead of Marczyk on dropped scores
© ERC
JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion hosts the penultimate round of the ERC season from 5 - 7 September.
