The race to win the 2024 FIA European Rally Championship will be decided later this week (11 -13 October) when Rally Silesia hosts the eagerly-anticipated season showdown.
After seven action-packed rounds, BRC Racing Team driver Paddon tops the title order in his Pirelli-equipped Hyundai i20 N Rally2. Frenchman Franceschi, whose AMD Motorsport Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 runs on Michelin tyres, is 27 points behind the New Zealander with 35 points still to fight for in Poland.
Paddon (pictured below) said: “Poland is all about collecting points and that makes me feel more positive where things are at.”
Rally Silesia might be unfamiliar territory for the majority of ERC frontrunners, but double Polish champion Miko Marczyk (pictured below) has tackled the event four times previously and is a double winner.
“I have a lot of good memories from this rally,” said Marczyk, who is currently third in the ERC standings, 13 points behind Franceschi and 20 ahead of Andrea Mabellini. “My first Polish championship title was there on the finish [in 2019] and it’s a good time to push everything we have to fight for this second place in the championship.”

Yoann Bonato, the winner of the ERC-counting Rally Islas Canarias in May, is back in action three months after fracturing vertebrae in a crash on a rally in his native France.
Jarosław Szeja, Grzegorz Grzyb and Jakub Matulka are first, second and third respectively in the Polish championship, which also concludes on Rally Silesia.
Other notable entrants include wheelchair user Cirprian Lupu and multiple ERC Ladies’ Trophy winner Ekaterina Stratieva (pictured below), who are contesting the ERC4 category. Click HERE for more on the Rally Silesia entry list.