Simone Tempestini starts the 2025 season with ambition and unexpected obstacles
For Simone Tempestini, every start of the season comes with new challenges, ambitious goals and the desire to exceed his limits. 2025 is no exception. With an intense program that includes stages in both the National Rally Championship and the FIA ERC – European Rally Championship, the Cluj driver has hit the road again, with two crews and the same unmistakable passion for motorsport.
Official launch and a new formula for CNR
On April 11, Napoca Rally Academy organized the presentation event of the crews that will compete in the domestic competitions. The novelty of the season is Carmen Poenaru, who joins Simone Tempestini as co-driver for the National Rally Championship. A fresh formula, which brings a new breath to the top team of the domestic championship.
Difficult start to the European adventure
Just a few days before, between April 3 and 6, Tempestini made his debut in the European season at the Sierra Morena Rally in Spain, a competition now in its 42nd edition. Together with Sergiu Itu and his partners from MRF Tyres, Simone confidently approached the first stage of the ERC. Unfortunately, the rally ended prematurely for the Romanian crew, after a braking error that took them off the route in the tenth special stage. A painful abandonment, but from which the entire team learned valuable lessons for the following stages.
Emotions in Harghita: a rally with a perfect start, but with an unexpected ending.
The weekend of April 11–13 brought the first round of the National Rally Championship, held on the spectacular roads of Harghita County. With an excellent start, Tempestini led the rally authoritatively from the first kilometers. Everything seemed to be going perfectly, until stage 8, when two flat tires turned the situation upside down. The lost time dropped him to second place, and technical problems on the last day kept Simone away from first place at the Harghita Rally this year as well. Simone ended the competition in 2nd place – a solid result, but not the one desired by a driver accustomed to the highest podium.
A long and promising season
Even if the start of the season was strewn with obstacles, both in the ERC and in the CNR, Simone Tempestini’s determination and experience remain constant. With a strong team behind him and an ambitious program ahead, 2025 promises to be a spectacular year for Romanian motorsport.
For fans, for supporters, but especially for Simone, each stage that follows is a new chance to write history and we are sure that we have a season of stories ahead of us.
Simone Tempestini’s calendar in 2025
April 4 – 6 / ERC 42nd Rally Sierra Morena-Córdoba Patrimonio de la Humanidad (Spain)
April 11 – 13 / CNR Harghita (Romania)
May 9 – 11 / ERC Rally Hungary (Hungary)
May 23 – 25 / CNR Maramures (Romania)
May 29 – 31 / ERC BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia (Sweden)
June 13 – 15 / ERC 81st Rally Poland (Poland)
June 20 – 22 / CNR Cluj (Romania)
July 4 – 6 / ERC Rally di Roma Capitale (Italy)
July 11 – 13 / CNR Sibiu (Romania)
August 15 – 17 / ERC Barum Czech Rally Zlín (Czech Republic)
September 5 – 7 / ERC JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion (UK)
13 – 14 September / SR Bucharest (Romania)
26 – 28 September / CNR Valcea (Romania)
3 – 5 October / ERC Croatia Rally (Croatia)
17 – 19 October / CNR Brasov (Romania)
31 – 2 November / CNR Arges (Romania)