Romania’s tetraplegic rally driver Ciprian Lupu ready to start 2024 season

Romania’s tetraplegic professional rally driver, Ciprian Lupu, is ready to start the 2024 competition season. His first race will be at the local Harghitei Rally scheduled for April 26-27, but international events will follow.

Ciprian Lupu is the first person with disabilities in the world to win the title of National Champion in a motoring competition, and for this performance, he was included in the Guinness World Records, according to the press release.

In 2024, Ciprian Lupu and his co-pilot, Andrei Aițculesei, will compete in the same car as last year, a Renault Clio Rally 5 with special features and adaptations. His primary sponsor this year is the Romanian group Las Vegas.

In addition to local competitions in Harghita, Argeș, Maramureș, Cluj, Sibiu, and more, the Romanian driver also plans to participate in three stages of the European Rally Championship.

Moreover, this year, Ciprian Lupu will continue to help people with disabilities. The sportsman will organize new defensive driving courses for drivers who use wheelchairs.

Ciprian Lupu, 40, became a wheelchair user after an accident at the seaside when he was only 18 years old. He entered the world of rallies in 2008 as a co-pilot for Manu Mihalache. He graduated from the Napoca Rally Academy, trained by Simone Tempestini. In 2018, he debuted in the National Coastal Speed Championship, and in 2019, in the National Rally Championship.

The first National Champion title (in the debutants category) came in the 2021 season. Thus, Lupu was the first wheelchair user with tetraplegia to win a National Rally Championship, according to FIA, quoted in the press release.

(Photo source: PR)