The 21-year-old was conducting a private test session for the upcoming Rally Poland “when he lost his life in an accident,” organizers said.
ROME, Italy — Italian rally driver Matteo Doretto has died in an accident while testing his car in Poland, the European Rally Championship says.
Doretto was conducting a private test session on Wednesday morning for the upcoming Rally Poland “when he lost his life in an accident,” the ERC said in a statement late Wednesday. It added that co-driver Samuele Pellegrino was unhurt.
The Automobile Club of Italy said Doretto hit a tree while testing his Peugeot 208 car in northeastern Poland.
The 21-year-old Doretto was the Italian junior champion last year and was in his first season in the ERC. He was fourth in the junior standings.
“With potential in abundance, Matteo was polite, engaging but, above all, modest,” the ERC said.
“Despite the enormity of his achievement in Hungary, when he finished in third position in the young driver category, Matteo used his post-rally summing up to outline his desire to become even more competitive on gravel, while also looking ahead to his home event, next month’s Rally di Roma Capitale,” the ERC added.
“To all of Matteo’s family and friends, his co-drivers Andrea Budoia and Samuele Pellegrino, the MS Munaretto team and all who had got to know Matteo during his all-too-short time in the ERC, the FIA European Rally Championship family extends its deepest sympathies,” the organization said.
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