ERC: Sibiu Rally Romania / Rally review
Ladies Trophy
The battle of the ladies was a
one-on-one affair between championship leader Ekaterina Stratieva in her Citroën C2 R2 and
the Aussie Molly Taylor, also in
Citroën albeit the C3 R3 version.
Taylor suffered a puncture on
stage 10 but by then already had
the win al but secured because
Stratieva rolled her C2 on the
second stage and was before the
fight had even really developed.
Nonetheless the two brought
some extra excitement to the
event and boosted the female appreciation of the sport.
Prime Competitor
One very interesting name on the
entrylist was that of Victor Ponta,
the Romanian Prime Minister.
The leader of the reigning Social
Democratic Party is a fervent
rally enthusiast and co-driver.
When he took office on 7 May
2012 he had to put a stop to his
rally career. Ponta has co-driven
for Edwin Keleti reaching to the
top level of the sport when the
two competed in the WRC Rally
Catalunya d’Espana. His commitments as Prime Minister prevented him from taking to the
stages but he found some time in
his busy schedule to co-drive the
0-car for a day on the Sibiu Rally.
Francois Delecour and ERC General Coordinator Jean-Pierre Nicolas chatting with Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
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When Ekaterina Stratieva rolled on SS2 all Molly Taylor had to do to win the Ladies To get the ladies involved in rallying, it doesn’t hurt to have a female star. Taylor was very
Cup was finish. Easier said than done on the rough stages. She managed though. popular at the autograph signing session, especially among the girls.