Veteran Verini makes rally comeback

Italian Maurizio Verini will contest the centenary edition of Rallye Monte-Carlo next week; at the age of 66.

The former European rally champion last competed on the event in 1996 when he finished eighth overall in a Lancia Delta.

Verini, whose best result on the event has been second, insists he’s taking part on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge opener purely for fun at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX run by
the Milan-based Nocentini team, which also entered his Lancia back in 1996. He will be co-driven for the first time by fellow Italian Max Chiapponi.

“We’re starting with the aim of just enjoying ourselves”, said the former factory Fiat driver. “But
I’d like to think that we are still competitive and I want to see if at my age I can still cope with the physical demands that a challenging event like Monte-Carlo brings. It won’t be easy,
even though there’s nothing like the number of stages there used to be, but I think that my experience could help on the longer sections.”

Verini was co-driven during his early career by Marcello Lotti, the General Manager of the IRC.