All roads lead to home for Peugeot star Palomo

The Spaniard is within touching distance of sealing the coveted ERC4 crown and starts next week’s finale with a 14-point advantage over second-placed Andrea Mabellini. 

A top-five finish for Palomo, who lives almost 600km west of the rally’s Salou base in Madrid, would be enough to guarantee him the crown. And, while the sweeping asphalt stages aren’t exactly on his doorstep, the youngster is looking forward to competing in front of his home fans.

“It is an extra motivation to be able to race at home and have such an important championship at stake,” Palomo told FIAERC.com. 

“It’s true that we are not from Salou, but I am confident that fighting in Spain will give us motivation and hopefully we will be able to use that to our advantage.”

Palomo and his team have been working hard on their preparations to ensure both he and his Peugeot 208 Rally4 are fighting fit ready for the Qualifying Stage on Thursday.

The 19-year-old drives for Rallye Team Spain, which was founded and launched in April 2017 as a promotion programme for young Spanish rally competitors by the RFEDA (Royal Spanish Automobile Federation).

“The feelings for next week are very good and I am very motivated,” he continued. “We are going to do everything on our part so that nothing fails and I trust that everything will turn out well. 

“Winning ERC4 would be a great reward to confirm all the hard work we have done to get here, and also to motivate us to continue working. We are going to do everything possible because we want that title!”