• A first time on asphalt in the Opel Corsa Rally4, and a first time in Rome: a double debut awaits Claire Schönborn
• A demanding route offering a taste of the World Championship in the mountains of the Reatino and beneath the Colosseum
• A first podium in the ADAC Opel GSE Rally Cup provides a boost ahead of a major challenge

The Tiber, the tempo and centuries of tradition – on the weekend of 3 to 5 July, Claire Schönborn lines up for the first time at the Rally di Roma. The second round of the Junior classification, and Claire’s debut here within the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC), will pose a challenge on more than one front: not only with new special stages and blank pages waiting to be filled with pacenotes, but also a battle against the heat, with temperatures hovering around the 35-degree mark for the entire field. Tyre management at the rally juniors’ first asphalt event will therefore be one of the central talking points. The Opel Corsa Rally4 and Hankook asphalt tyre combination is, once again, unfamiliar territory for Claire Schönborn.

„I’m hugely looking forward to the Rally di Roma! The heat we’re expecting will make it anything but easy, though – not just for the crews, but for the equipment too. With 42 Rally4 cars, the competition is enormous. We’re also anticipating a real variety of stage layouts: tight, technical sections, but medium-fast and fast stretches as well. Wherever it gets tight, the pacenotes have to be spot on – that’s where you simply can’t afford any mistakes. I can’t wait for the challenge!“
CLAIRE SCHÖNBORN

A dress rehearsal for a new route

The rally itself is entirely new ground – and not only for the driver from Germany: the 2026 Rally di Roma Capitale arrives this year with a completely revised route. Not least because the event serves as a dress rehearsal ahead of its planned promotion from the European Championship to the World Rally Championship calendar in 2027. In total, 197.02 kilometres and eleven special stages await the competitors. Friday evening opens proceedings with a spectacular street stage at the Colosseum, before the action moves into the mountains of the Reatino. Saturday, the heart of the rally, comprises the longest and most demanding stage – the near-28-kilometre Vallecupola, run between Lake Turano and the mountains of the Reatino – along with the fast high-plateau stage of Piana di Rascino and the short, varied Colle di Tora–Poggio Moiano. Sunday then brings the Monastero – Monte Livata stage, with its tunnels carved into the rock, followed by the short and technically demanding Canterano–Gerano, with its many downhill hairpins, run as the closing Power Stage. The finish and podium then await the “finishers” back in the capital – on the Via della Conciliazione, close to the Vatican.