The Madness that is Rally Legend
INTRO...
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two decades, you'll likely be familiar with Rally Legend... After all, 2024 marks the 22nd edition of this iconic event... And for those of you who aren't, let's give you a quick brief. Rally Legend is set within San Marino, based out of the Olympic Multieventi Sport Domus and San Marino Stadium. Although run in a traditional rally format with timed stages, this is no 'normal' event. This event isn't remembered for 'who won', but for who was the most entertaining. The biggest crowd pleaser. Think Ken Block-Esque entertainment, but a bumper 180 car entry filled with crews wanting to be the biggest highlight. This is more like a Rally Festival celebrating all eras of rallying, bringing a cross generation of motorsport enthusiasts to one place for the same pleasure. Everything about this event just oozes atmosphere. A centralised Rally Village, with Parc Ferme seeing the cars parked around the San Marino Stadium allows fans to get up close and personal to the cars, and the first thing that hits is the sheer variety of cars, and the staggering quantity. Maxi Kit Cars, WRC, icons of Group B and Group A goodness, RallyX, you name it, it's all here. Cars I'd only ever seen on grainy VHS tapes or in pages of books, now right in front of me.
Thursday... Sprint Legend Race To even remotely write this as a traditional event report seems impossible, such is the nature of Rally Legend. With the formalities of Recce, Sign-on and Scrutineering out of the way, the excitement turns to Thursday evenings Sprint Legend Race. A short 2.4km stage starting outside Rally Village, with results separate from the main event, but the top 3 finishers receive a time bonus for their Day 1 times. 7 seconds for 1st, 5 seconds for 2nd, and 3 seconds for 3rd. But that's not really what this is about; with 2 mandatory laps of the roundabout off the start, you know what's coming. With the stage due to start at 20:30, fans begin congregating hours in advance to get the best view at what must be the most famous roundabout in San Marino. At most rally events, the addition of a few donuts around a roundabout may seem a little unauthentic, some kind of attempt by the organisers to add a bit of man-made excitement for the more casual spectators. But when it happens just outside San Marino Rally Village as the event opener at night, it’s pure magic. The atmosphere is incredible, flares, fireworks, fans chanting... It really feels like you're in an amphitheatre of rally passion.
Onto the action, we kick off with Italian Superstar Paolo Diana. He sends his Fiat 131 EVO into sight, small flick of the handbrake and the drift is in full swing. Multiple laps of the roundabout on opposite lock, roundabout filled with tyre and flare smoke. If the place wasn't alive before, it sure is now! Next up, Irish hero Frank Kelly in Baby Blue... Is it even a rally without a well driven MK2 Escort?! More of the same from Frank, Two real crowd pleasers to start the night off.
The tone has been set for the evening, anything less than full opposite lock and billowing tyre smoke just wouldn't do. We settle into the show, every crew having a go, some more stylish than others. But the star of the show; Enter Right Adrien Formaux. There's a tense excitement building as he lines up on the start, the distinct glow of that green hybrid light. Despite the diverse audience, fans shouting 'Adrien' and 'Formaux' to alert others is clear to any nationality. Remember the mandatory two laps of the roundabout? Forget that! Door open, hand out the window waving to the fans... Formaux puts on a phenomenal show with 8 laps. Everyone's adrenaline has peaked, the place has gone mental!
Friday... Let the Action Commence Friday gets underway with Shakedown, another 2.4km stage where crews can get a feel for the stages. An ideal opportunity to familiarise themselves, as this stage also forms part of the evenings first stage of the rally. A good job for some crews as they get caught out by a very muddy farm yard, plenty of spectators on hand to assist getting out of the bog.
Friday Night saw the rally kick off for real; Three night stages starting with I Laghi, and finishing way up high in San Marino... You really don't appreciate just how steep the climb is; San Marino is a medieval mountainous microstate sitting at the top of Monte Titano after all. SS1 - I Laghi; More of the same from these crazy European fans, fireworks, flares, music... They really know how to do things. SS1 is turned into yet another crazy atmosphere, I find myself climbing the opposing hillside to take it all in, and what a view. The cars light the way, climbing their way up the stage as this party errupts around them. It's no surprise that after the opening leg, the overnight leader is Adrien Formaux with a healthy 19 second lead.
Saturday... The Longest Day..
Saturday presents the longest day for the crews, two loops of three stages totalling 47km. Wider, faster more open roads, but that doesn't tame the entertainment. With the La Casa stage providing plenty of switch back hairpins, there were plenty of opportunities for the crews to put on a show. Fan favourites at this location; Paolo Diana and Ole Christian Veiby. The days stages saw Adrien Formaux extend his lead to 1 minute 33 seconds over second placed Luca Pedersoli, who was in the Ex-Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC. 55 seconds further back in third, a name better known for his F1 career, Heikki Kovalainen. He was piloting an Ex-Citroen Racing Citroen C3 WRC.
Sunday... The Home Stretch.. After all of the madness, a low-key final day was very welcome. Two runs through the Le Tane stage, with a single run of The Legend stage in between. A pleasant 15km of competitive action to round out the event. We found ourselves at a very well known jump, along with hundreds of others. It must be good! Despite some sketchy landings, the two runs offers a fantastic showing from the crews with some serious air time!
As the final stop line comes into sight, the results remain as they were at the end of Saturday. Adrien Formaux takes his Puma Rally1 Hybrid to a comanding victory, with Luca Pedersoli finishing second (+1:56) and Heikki Kovalainen rounding out the podium in third (+0:49)
Leaving San Marino, I felt exhausted and revitalized in equal measure. The week has reminded me just how incredible the motorsport fraternity can be, and in particular how important it is to have events like these. Set aside the competitive nature, and simply enjoy the utter spectacle that an event like Rally Legend can bring. If you’ve never been, I urge you to make the trip to the world’s fifth smallest country – one which is home to the world’s biggest and best rallying party.