The wait is coming to an end and for Devis Ravanelli the days that separate him from the start can be counted on one hand.
Next weekend, between Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th June to be precise, the Rallye San Martino di Castrozza will take place, the home race of the driver from Centrale di Bedollo.
A particularly cordial nomination in which he will make a radical change, a kind of revolution, since it is the first official approach to a four-wheel drive car.
The Pintarally Motorsport flag bearer will drive a Citroen DS3 N5 under the direction of Power Brothers for the first act of the new N5 Asphalt Trophy.
“It’s always a special feeling to race on home roads,” says Ravanelli, “but to add to the level of emotion I’m going to make this debut.” Having always raced naturally aspirated and front-wheel drive, I am holding a car with an integral turbo in my hands for the first time. I’ve tried something similar before, never in a real race, so I’m really excited to see how this Citroen DS3 N5 version fares. I did a short test at the Pomposa track in early March, on a Volkswagen Polo N5, also from Power Brothers, and the first impressions were really very interesting.”
If the technical factor will certainly be a novelty yet to be discovered, the field factor will be quite different, which remains a point to focus on despite the significant change in the circuit, largely reversed compared to recent editions can leave at both-day home game.
“The organizers wanted to reshuffle the cards,” Ravanelli emphasizes, “and even if the direction of travel has been reversed, we can say that we will assume a good knowledge of the route, at least as far as the nature of the asphalt is concerned.” and therefore its grip . We have raced here many times and achieved great satisfaction, but as we were the first with a completely different car to the previous ones we cannot set any specific targets.”
At the 2023 edition of San Martino di Castrozza, valid for the Italian Asphalt Rally Championship, the third zone ACI Sport Rally Cup and other related series, Ravanelli will contest seven special stages together with Fabrizio Handel.
We start on Friday evening from the rediscovered special show “San Martino Cittadina” (2.97 km) and switch to the renewed “Gobbera” (10.74 km), “Val Malene” (18.10 km) and “Manghen” on Saturday . (18.67 km), which corresponds to a mileage of just under a hundred.
“The route remains very technical and varied,” adds Ravanelli, “with fast sections alternating with slower ones and going through treacherous dirt like the descent into Val Malene.” It will be a good school. We’ll try to do everything right. Many thanks to all our partners, Pintarally Motorsport, Power Brothers and my faithful squire Fabrizio.”
