Last year's national rally champion Aleks Humar (renault clio R3T) won three of the four rallies of the national championship this year, but he also had some sports luck in all three victories. Thus, he overtook Aljoša Novak (mitsubishi lancer EVO9) only for a few seconds twice, and at the last rally in Italy he took the lead after a technical failure of Darko Peljhan's car (mitsubishi lancer EVO10). Humar drove excellently in Nova Gorica last year, but ended the rally with a serious accident. In the middle of the rally, he changed his tire and then went on a relentless hunt for victory. He set top times, but then on the longest test of the League he still wanted too much. This year, he will also take the make-up exam at last year's race in Nova Gorica. ”Unfortunately, accidents are also an integral part of this sport. I don't bother with last year's rally. This year, the test of the League will also take place in the opposite direction and will be new for everyone. I expect a nice race with a lot of spectators and competitors. Much of the rally goes uphill, but on dry asphalt it should be competitive. I do not witness any problems with the intercooler from the last rally in Italy. Temperatures will be slightly lower, and the average speed of the rally in Nova Gorica will be higher by about 20 kilometers per hour, ”says Humar, whose co-driver Jaka Cevc will read his notes this time as well.
Humar has a 31,5 point advantage over Rok Turk (peugeot 208 R2) before the rally, while Darko Peljhan (mitsubishi lancer EVO10) had a lot of technical problems in the next races after winning the introductory rally in Velenje. Peljhan also did not successfully finish last year's rally in Nova Gorica due to a fallen bicycle.
"I am not burdened by the result. I try certain new things on the car and with such a process, failures also occur. If there aren't any, I hope for a good result, ”predicts Peljhan, who is defending last year's national title with his co-driver Tina Lazar.
In the overall ranking, the Slovenes will face a difficult battle for the highest places. The first favorite of the rally will undoubtedly be Claudio De Cecco (peugeot 208 R5), and the Hungarian driver Krisztian Hideg (mitsubishi lancer EVO9) was also very fast at this year's rally in Velenje. In addition to the mentioned Slovenian drivers, Grega Premrl (Citroen DS3 R3T) and former national champion Boštjan Logar (Subaru Impreza) will also compete for places in the top five.
