Mission accomplished for FIA European Rally Championship’s leading ladies

Ekaterina Stratieva & Carmen Poenaru returned to the FIA ERC 2WD Championship on SATA Rallye Açores last week and achieved her aim of a finish in the highly competitive category. The historic event is based on the Portuguese island of São Miguel in the Azores and is known to be amazingly picturesque.

Stratieva came home 12^th in class, switching from ERC 2WD to the ERC Production Car Cup for two events. She appeared happy to be back in her familiar Citroën C2R2 for the all-gravel event. She recently raced a Subaru AWD car in production class at Acropolis Rally earlier this year.

“I know that I can do more and be better but from other side I must be happy that we get to the finish of this very hard event,” said the Bulgarian. “Like people say – if you want to win first you must arrive to the finish. It was very easy to make mistakes and finish early.”

Co-driver, Carmen Poenaru reckons she could have been higher up the order had it not been for a troubled start to the rally.

“I lose the rally from the first day when I lose a good balance in the brakes and I stop to trust them,” the ERC Ladies’ Trophy leader said. “It was very hard for the first three stages to stay on the road. Then there was a problem with the gearshift and I was waiting a long time for some of the stage to start or not happen. But it was a big pleasure to be in the C2 again and I hope also Carmen enjoyed our moments together.”