The European Rally Championship will see the entry of an all-female crew, with Cristiana Oprea and Alexia Parteni joining the 2024 season. Oprea is not new to the series, as she already entered several events in the past and is now aiming for her first full season, navigated by Parteni.
Cristiana Oprea and Alexia Parteni are set to join the 2024 European Rally Championship for a full campaign in an ERC4-specification Opel Corsa Rally4.
The European Rally Championship is the ladder to the highly coveted World Rally Championship and saw many successful teams in the last years. Oprea is one of the few female rally drivers competing in the field; influenced and inspired by former WRC star Michelle Mouton, she will start her first full campaign in one week's time in Hungary, alongside co-driver Parteni.
Cristina Oprea is a rally driver from Romania and was the first ever woman from her country to join an ERC and WRC event after she started her career in 2015 as co-driver before she switched to driver herself in the DACIA Cup.
She has been behind many "firsts" for her country, as she and her co-driver Diana Hategan were the first Romanian female rally crew to compete in a foreign rally in the last 50 years. Cristiana is also founder and administrator of "Femei in Motorsport", a platform to promote all women involved in Romanian motorsport.
Now she will start her first full season in ERC to learn and aim for a progression throughout the year: "My goal is to do my first full ERC season, but realistically, right now, I only have the budget to do four to six events", she stated. "I aim for Tarmac events because this is where I have the most experience after competing the last couple of seasons in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup Powered by GSE."
"At this point I am just looking to be present at the start of each rally, build the experience and enjoy what I’ve achieved so far", she continued. "I am confident my pace will improve if I have the chance to be constant, but it’s actually a bigger challenge than it might seem, financially."
Alexia Parteni made her rally debut in 2022 joining the Romania Historic Winter Rally and also teamed up with Oprea for the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup in 2022 and 2023 - alongside whom she will now move up to ERC with just 19 years of age.
"I’m excited about this year and I really feel like this is gonna be a great season", echoed Parteni. "I can’t wait to see the stages and enjoy every kilometre of the new rallies. See you soon in Hungary!"
The first event will take place from 12th to 14th April in Hungary.
ERC 2024
12th to 14th April / Hungary
2nd to 4th May / Spain
13th to 15th June / Sweden
5th to 7th July / Estonia
26th to 28th July / Italy
16th to 18th August / Czech
30th August to 1st September / Great Britain
11th to 13th October / Poland