The Romanian female rally crew of Cristiana Oprea/Alexia Parteni are ready to return on gravel this weekend for the fourth round of the European Rally Championship. Rally Estonia (July 5-7) is a world-class competition, having been part of the FIA WRC World Rally Championship calendar for the past four years.
The 2024 season began with a series of difficult moments for driver Cristiana Oprea and co- driver Alexia Parteni, as they failed to finish the first two European rounds in Hungary and the Canary Islands. However, the sport has shown them that each lesson is an important step towards progress, and their goal for Rally Estonia remains unchanged: to increase their pace from one stage to the next and secure a points finish in ERC4, fighting alongside 14 other competitors.
Despite their lack of experience on gravel, the 8th place they were forced to withdraw from in the final kilometres of Rally Hungary gave the girls the confidence to accept the challenge of another new rally for them, this time on the fast gravel roads typical of the Baltic countries. Rally Estonia will take place from July 5-7 in the Tartu region and includes 14 special stages totalling 188 timed kilometres over the three days of competition (Friday-Sunday).
The action at Rally Estonia begins on Wednesday, July 3, with a pre-event test session, essential for Cristiana and Alexia to reacquaint themselves with the Opel Corsa Rally4 after a two-month break due to budget constraints. Thursday will be dedicated to reconnaissance, with 12 hours during which the driver and co-driver will cover the special stages under normal road conditions to write the rally pace notes. The official start will be given on Friday afternoon at Tartu's town hall square, followed by the nearby Tartu vald super-special stage.
Thousands of local and international spectators are expected on the stages over the weekend, with Estonian fans particularly known for their passion and the great atmosphere they create at rallies. Local hero Ott Tänak, official driver of the WRC Hyundai Motorsport team, will also be at the start. The rally can be watched live on Rally.TV.
Oprea is also the new ambassador for the Autovit.ro brand, part of the OLX Group. Her ongoing participation in the European Rally Championship is now possible also thanks to this new digital content project in the automotive industry, which brings Cristiana one step closer to achieving the ambitious goal set at the beginning of the year: participating in six out of the eight scheduled championship stages.
"The remarkable achievements of Cristiana Oprea at rallies, along with her passion for cars and spirit of self-improvement, make her the perfect representative of our brand. Her journey from a motorsport enthusiast to a professional rally driver and a trailblazer for women in Romanian motorsport is a powerful example of determination and innovation that Autovit.ro supports.” stated Andrei Dumuța, General Manager of Autovit.ro.
Cristiana Oprea is supported in 2024 by UniCredit Leasing and Vitesco Technologies, joined by iAMSport, Vitamin Aqua, and media partners ProFM, AutoBild Romania, and RallyFish. International participations are made possible under the Romanian Automobile Club license. More information about the projects Cristiana is involved in can be found on her blog cristianaoprea.ro , on Instagram @crissoprea , or on her Facebook page Cristiana Oprea .
Cristiana Oprea/Images - Flat Out Media
