Filip sinks his teeth into ERC Barum Czech Rally Zlín test

Co-driven by Bogdan Iancu, another interesting aspect of the double Romanian 2WD champion’s run in Transylvania was that Filip’s Orange-supported car doubled-up as a 4G network hub, which allowed spectators to connect to wifi whenever they were near it. That will be of great interest to the ERC Radio reporters, who rely on good connection at the end of every ERC stage!

“Our objective for this year’s Barum Czech Rally Zlín is to finish in the top 10 of the 2WD category. We know how great the competition is there and that is why we want to be as prepared as possible for this challenge”, said Filip. “We did the Transylvania Rally with the clear goal of testing and setting the Renault Clio R3 for the next round of the ERC, only making two passes on the recce and using the same Michelin tyres, so we could get accustomed to the behavior of the car. During some of the special stages I was closer to the winner of the category Raul Badiu, and during others the difference was great. I hope we will have the chance of competing together again because it has been a real challenge for us and I am glad that we finally shared the ranking for the 2WD with two teams for whom fair play is very important and for whom I have a lot of respect, respectively Raul Badiu/Gabi Lazăr and Vlad Cosma/Diana Hațegan.”

Filip’s next sporting challenge is Transfier, a triathlon for the Half Iron Man distance (1.9km swim, 90km bicycle ride and a 21km run). After this there is the Sibiu Rally (August 20-23) and then Barum Czech Rally Zlín (August 28-30).

Filip is supported by Orange, Renault, Rombat Batteries, Michelin, BCR Leasing, and Mobil 1 through Star Lubricants and technical partners, sportsbusiness.ro, TopGear Romania, Colina Motorsport, PowerBar, Felt bicycles, Hotel Hilton Sibiu, Ludicass Traduceri and Automobil Clubul Român.