The winner of the 2024 ACI Sport 4WD Cup, Matteo Fontana, confirms his participation in the 2025 Italian Gravel Rally Championship (CIRT), a testing ground for his WRC3 campaign. Always navigated by Alessandro Arnaboldi, Fontana will pilot a Ford Fiesta Rally3 for the second year. “When we are ready, we will make the big leap but the work is the right one, and we do not want to bite off more than we can chew,” he says.
Last season, his 7th place overall at the Rally dei Nuraghi e del Vermentino, the only Rally3 car in a sea of Rally2 machines, he began his 2025 season with a 2nd place in the WRC3 at the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Fontana has started in this new season in the best possible way, and now the first to have signed up for the 2025 Italian Gravel Rally Championship.
“Let’s say that second time in the last stage of the San Marino Rally, 0.8 seconds behind Heikkila, didn’t go down well with me,” comments Fontana, referring to the near victory of the PS “Macerata Feltria” last year. “And so here we are again to push even harder. 2024 was an incredible year for us. First, we won the world championship with the Rally4, then with the Rally3 we made our debut in the CIRT and won the WRC stage in Greece.”
When asked why he chooses to continue racing in the CIRT with the Ford Fiesta Rally3, Fontana answers: “Our mentality has always been to take the step when we are ready. Last year, we finished the work with the Rally4, and then we moved on to the Rally3, and given the results in Italy, we decided to try it in the world championship too. You go one step at a time, and that’s why we will continue with this car, because we need to improve a lot, both on asphalt and gravel.”
Many would have expected to see him in a Rally2, like in Monza Rally Show. “When we are ready we will make the leap, but the work is the right one, and we don’t want to bite off more than we can chew. Once we get into the Rally2 we will do it to play for something. In Monza it went well, our goal was to have fun, me and my grandfather, and start to discover the car a little. The Rally3 is a class that hasn’t yet taken hold in Italy, and I see a lot of people struggling a lot with the Rally2. With the Rally3, even in the most complicated situations, you have fun and improve a lot more because taking a Rally2 to the limit is much more difficult.”
What did he take home from the 2024 CIRT season? “It was a year of growth,” says Fontana. “I improved a lot during the season, from Foligno to the last races. Of course, each round is special and has its own story, but if in Foligno it was the first race on a Rally3, at Vermentino we already knew the car. I really like the land of Sardinia, and in preparation for the world championship we made our debut there with the Rally3. However, I really like each gravel race, they are beautiful rallies even if short, and from each stage you take home a nice package of experience also because of the conditions that are always different”.
So this year too, for him, will he use the events in Italy for preparation for the world championship stages Fontana answers: “Yes, they are races where you can cover kilometres, see the improvement from one year to the next, test different situations, a bit like a gym with a global perspective. In my opinion, Italy is a very valid option for riders who need to grow, we have a particular land and these experiences are useful. It helps to improve on the slow roads compared to the races in the north. A valid goal for the CIRT could be to get into the top 10. In the CIRT races, I have the possibility to always attack at the maximum without holding back and not playing for anything, so I will give it my all straight away.”
When asking him about his aims, Fontana replies: “Becoming world champion, a goal I’ve had since I was 3 years old, but we have to work. We are not complete as drivers, we still have to complete the journey on Rally3 and only after that we can move on to Rally2. We will try to be as ready and prepared as possible, with the goal of becoming official drivers.”