The 30-year-old, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, was referring to the support she received from fans following the action on round five of the 2024 ERC season and meeting her in person in Fiuggi, the event’s host town.
“We are trying to do what is possible to improve the knowledge about cystic fibrosis, I’m affected by it from my birth so this rally is very difficult because of the heat,” Somaschini said. “But we do this to spread awareness of our project, #CorrerePerUnRespiro (Race for a Breath). Our volunteers were helping to do this in Fiuggi where there is always a lot of people coming to see me. In the stages there are people with banners, it’s overwhelming.”
Somaschini finished 27th among the ERC contenders in the Pirelli-equipped Citroën C3 Rally2 she shares with co-driver and fellow Italian Nicola Arena following a damaged front-right tyre on SS3.
“It was in the middle of the stage so we made more than 14 kilometres on the rim,” she said. “It’s not possible to change the tyre during the stage in my condition in this heat so we tried to manage and we reached the end. I was a little bit angry and tired because of the situation in general so I had to restart myself for the second loop. But it was like a nightmare because I had a very big headache and it was not good, although we continued, we improved and we finished.”
The 2024 ERC season continues with the 53rd running of Barum Czech Rally Zlín from 16 - 18 August.
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