MARCUS GRONHOLM CHALLENGES VALENTINO ROSSI AT THE “MONZA RALLY SHOW”

Among the participants, the two-time world rally champion Marcus Gronholm, Valentino Rossi, “Dindo” Capello, Marco Simoncelli. The last editions saw the duel between “Dindo” Capello (3 wins), and Valentino Rossi (2). Many Italian specialists entered. Among them, Rossetti, Andreucci, Re, Longhi, Cantamessa. Dallavilla, Navarra, Virag, Fontana, Cavallini, Perico.

The Monza track is undergoing the last preparations to welcome at its best the “Monza Rally Show”, scheduled from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th of November, and which will once more stage the spectacular challenge between rally drivers and track drivers of motorbikes and cars.

Among the participants, the two-time world rally champion Marcus Gronholm, who will take part in the race on a Subaru Impresa WRC, fighting against the protagonists of the recent editions:

Rinaldo “Dindo” Capello and Valentino Rossi. The three-time Le Mans 24 hours winner has won 4 Monza Rally Show editions (2000 on Subaru Impreza, 2004 and 2005 on Skoda Fabia, 2008 on Ford Focus), while the 9-time Motorcycle Championship winner has won twice, in 2006 and 2007, driving a Ford Focus Wrc with Carlo Cassina as co-driver.

This year, Capello will drive the world rally championship winning car, the Citroen C4 Wrc, while Valentino Rossi will once again use a Ford Focus Wrc.

In the provisional entry list, amongst others, are Marco Simoncelli (Ford Focus Wrc), Luca Rossetti (Abarth Grande Punto S2000), Piero Longhi (Skoda Fabia Wrc), Alessandro Caffi (Citroen Xsara Wrc), Paolo Andreucci (Peugeot 207 S2000), Andrea Dallavilla (Peugeot 207 S2000), Felice Re (Citroen C4 Wrc), Andrea Navarra and Fabio Babini (Subaru Impreza Wrc), Luca Cantamessa (Subaru Impreza Wrc), Tobia Cavallini (Peugeot 307 Wrc), Alessandro Perico with Moreno Morello (Peugeot 206 Wrc), Mauro Trentin (Ford Focus Wrc), Mirco Virag (Citroen Xsara Wrc), Corrado Fontana (Peugeot 307 Wrc), Luigi Fontana and Fabrizio Fontana, both on Peugeot 206 Wrc.

Finally it is worth mentioning one of the protagonists of the first editions of the Monza Rally, the local Nando Cazzaniga, who will participate this year on a Lotus Exige, just ike Tv journalist Franco Bobbiese and WTCC driver Stefano D'Aste.

Among the entrants are also 12 fast crews on Renault Clio R3 from all around Italy. They are the winning drivers of the various Trophies organized by the french car manufacturer, which decided to gather them for a final challenge and to name the absolute winner. Besides the on-event assistance, Renault will provide a prize of over 10.000 euros. During the Monza Rally Show the award ceremony of the Renault 2009 Rally Trophies will be held.

The news of this edition of the Monza Rally Show, thanks to the collaboration with Rallylink, is the new website dedicated to the event (www.rallylink.it/monza) with all the information on the Show. Thanks to this team-work, it will be possible to follow summary features of the Special Stages, and the Master Show of Sunday 29th “live” (www.rallylink.it/monza, in the RALLY ONLINE section).