Azores Airlines Rallye [ERC, PRT, ERCJ]

[Rally Power]

Wow! Quite a bold statement.

It’s not bold Jarek, believe me. Many national rally series in Europe have been recovering after the economic recession. We can see again competitive champs in UK, Italy, Portugal and some other countries, with a bunch of guys fighting hard for the win in any of them, but that’s not the case currently in ERC, with only one guy clearly favorite.

I’ve mentioned Portuguese series top contenders as an example, but in other national series main competitors surely also have enough ability (more than enough in some cases) to became ERC title fighters in its current situation, if they got the chance and a proper program.

Btw, sometimes Ewrc data aren’t enough to get the whole picture. Fontes is one of those hyper talented guys able to win a gravel rally one weekend and be first on a GT or Prototype race the next one. He won every national circuit racing categories before moving to rally and it’s now at the peak of his rally career. Unfortunately, like so many other great Portuguese rally champs, he often has to choose a more tactical approach in home soil international events, sacrificing overall win chances to assure national championship points or get the “best Portuguese in the event" title, overvalued by sponsors and general press.