Rullo to tackle 2023 Australian Rally Championship – V8 Sleuth

by | Dec 18, 2022 | Engineer

FORMER Supercars young gun Alex Rullo is set to ramp up the next stage of his motorsport career by contesting the 2023 Australian Rally Championship.
RallySport Magazine has reported Alex and father Peter Rullo are planning a two-car ARC campaign, having ordered a pair of new Hyundai i20 N Rally2 cars from overseas.
Rullo Jr has switched focus to rallying in recent times, initially through a series of Targa tarmac rallies before making his ARC debut at the Western Australian round in May.
The now 22-year-old made headlines when he debuted in the 2017 Supercars Championship with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport at age 16.
That followed him winning a V8 Touring Car Series race as a 14-year-old.
But as quickly as he burst onto the scene, he faded into obscurity, last seen in Supercars circles at the 2019 Sandown 500 where he co-drove with Simona De Silvestro in a Kelly Racing Nissan.
Now looking to make waves in the ARC landscape which has been dominated by the Bates brothers and their Toyotas, Rullo will have an experienced hand in co-driver Steve Glenney by his side.
“Alex really loves his rallying,” Peter told RallySport Magazine.
“He’s only done five rallies, but he has taken to it really well and Steve believes he has a lot of potential.”
The Rullos debated which brand of car to run before settling on the i20 N, despite Hyundai’s supposed disinterest.
“We were initially going to run Skoda Fabias, but Skoda can’t supply enough cars, so we switched to Hyundais,” said Peter.
“Hyundai don’t seem too interested in supporting rallying in Australia.
“We’ve been told that they don’t believe rallying has enough activation or a big enough following, which is disappointing.
“Our business actually does a lot of work with Toyota and if they had a Rally2 car ready we would have bought those, but the Yaris Rally2 is still 20 months away.”
The third of the i20s N Rally2 cars being imported by RaceTorque Engineering will be driven by Daniel Gonzalez.
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