Monarri takes Abarth Rally Cup and ERC2 spoils on Rally Islas Canarias

Monarri (Abarth Spain – SMC Junior Motorsport) sparred with both Carlos David García (Overcame Competición) and Dariusz Poloński (Rallytechnology) for victory on leg one but had a quieter Saturday.Both of Monarri’s rivals had retired on Friday: Poloński with a broken wheel after hitting a rock on SS3 and García with a fuel pump issue between runs of the Las Palmas superspecial.Monarri completed all eight stages of leg two with his Pirelli-equipped Fiat Abarth 124 Rally without issue.“I am very happy for all my team. It has been a perfect weekend, an amazing weekend. The car has been working perfectly for all the days,” said an elated Monarri.“It was a very good performance and I’m so happy for the team and Abarth Spain for being the first winner in the Abarth 124 Rally Cup.”Zelindo Melegari (Neiksans Rallysport) had endured a difficult first leg with a broken exhaust on his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X but pressed on, finishing second in ERC2.Juan Carlos Alonso had looked set to finish second earlier on but a gearbox failure on the road section heading to SS13 ended his rally prematurely.That led to García scoring not only second place in the Abarth Rally Cup but also a podium in ERC2, with Poloński finishing third in the Abarth classification.The fastest driver of leg two though was Andrea Nucita. A driveshaft issue had ruled him out of Friday’s action but Nucita showed his rivals he would be a driver to watch in rounds to come, winning seven of the eight stages on Saturday on his way to fifth in ERC2 and fourth amongst the Abarths.

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