Formula One star Robert Kubica has been confirmed as an entrant on the Sicilian Rally Taormina-Messina which starts on the 13 November - a fortnight before he is expected to go up against World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb on the French Rallye du Var.
A keen rally fan, and owner of an ex-factory team Skoda Fabia World Rally Car, Kubica is one of the most highly-rated young drivers in Formula One, and was recently signed to the Renault F1 team for 2010.
Rally Taormina-Messina organisers have confirmed that the 24-year-old Pole will drive a Renault Clio R3, run by Brescia DP Motorsports, on the two-day event which is the last round of the Italian Tarmac Rally Trophy. He will be co-driven by Polish navigator Michal Kusnierz.
Two weeks later, on 27 November, Kubica is expected to tackle the French Championship Rallye de Var in the same Renault Clio R3. Already confirmed for the Saint Maxime-based rally is 2009 World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb - who will drive a C4 World Rally Car with wife Severine as co-driver.
Kubica has strong links with the Italian motorsport community having spent many seasons early in his career racing karts with Italian teams. He's no stranger to Renaults either, winning Renault's World Series in 2005, which led to his debut in Formula One.
Kubica's plans are further evidence of rally's irresistible appeal to some of the biggest names in motorsport. Former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen made his WRC competition debut on this year's Rally Finland. And after watching Raikkonen on the stages, fellow F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen also signalled his intention to tackle a rally this year - most likely Finland's Arctic Lapland Rally.
Reigning MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi will drive a Ford Focus RS WRC on the Monza Rally in Italy later this month, and has been linked to a third WRC outing next year on Rally Mexico.
In 2008, WRC was covered by 188 countries via 228 broadcasters, with a total audience of over 633 million plus 12 million visitors to wrc.com. 2009 will see a total of 12 rallies staged across the world in Ireland, Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Poland, Finland, Australia, Spain and Great Britain. For more information please visit www.wrc.com.
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Tags: c2r2 max, citroen c4 wrc, dp autosport, elena, f1, italy, kubica, loeb, rally, rallye du var, renault clio, severine, taormina messina, tra
Let’ s see if he is as good at rally as he is in racing. I wonder if he will be better then raikonen in wrc. Kubica is known as a very good driver with very good feeling of the car and knowlage how to customize the car to improve it (beside alonso he is considered the best to get the most from the car)so I hope he will quickly get used to the rally car and show what he can on SS. Good luck