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The most fascinating race in Europe is about to get underway. The Colosseum will open the challenges, then two days on the asphalt of Frosinone, for 13 special stages over almost 190 km. Crugnola-Ometto participate for the encore title, Pisani for the two-wheel drive.
Rome from the Italian and European Championship
From Friday 28 to Sunday 30 July, epic challenges are expected between the protagonists of the top national series signed by ACI Sport, now in its fifth round, and the best performers of the European Championship, in its sixth act, along a unique route that will lead the cars to parade among the beauties of the center, before igniting the competition in the shadow of the Colosseum, and then postponing the verdicts on the asphalt around Fiuggi. A show organized by Motorsport Italia that can boast the response of 126 crews registered for this eleventh edition of the event, also valid as the fifth round of the 7th Zone ACI Sport Rally Cup which gathered the adhesion of 34 competitors, while the another 92 will race together for CIAR Sparco and FIA ERC in the major race.
Rally Roma Capitale: round that could award the title
The Rally di Roma Capitale represents a significant step for the Absolute Italian Rally Sparco Championship, which will define the classification before the summer break and the other three final rounds on the calendar. But it could already be decisive for the assignment of titles, by virtue of the coefficient of 1.5. In fact, it will be the first match point for the leaders Andrea Crugnola and Pietro Elia Ometto on the Citroen C3 Rally2 prepared by FPF Sport and fitted with Pirelli tyres. The reigning champions arrive in the capital after a clear path, made up of four victories in the first four rounds which, including the power stages, guarantee them a haul of 108 points. The Varese still has an open account with Rome, one of the few tricolor races he has never won and therefore pushes him even more to seek the company. With a victory and 2 points in the power stage more than his direct opponents, he would celebrate the third overall title in his career, after those of ’20 and ’22. But precisely, there are opponents and there will be at least three who will be able to challenge him in the race for the title. Starting from the current n°2, the Savonese Fabio Andolfi who together with Nicolò Gonella on the Skoda Fabia of MS Munaretto will need to look for the first success of the season, after two second places, to keep hoping. The same goes for Giandomenico Basso from Treviso with Lorenzo Granai, third in the championship with one race less, who can boast three podiums with two victories in the last four editions in Rome and will return for the occasion aboard the Delta Rally signed Skoda Fabia RS. Absent on the dirt roads of San Marino, Damiano De Tommaso also returns to action, the last winner in the capital. The other Varese player in the league still has the chance to get back into competition for the Scudetto and will try to exploit it again in tandem with Sofia D’Ambrosio in the Skoda Fabia.
Race schedule
On Friday he will start drawing the possible hierarchies of the rally. The first lunges will start at 8:00 with free practice, then at 10:30 the Qualifyng Stage, a timed trial that will offer an advantage to the best in the European Championship for choosing the starting order. Then at 11:30 the shakedown will take place, open to all, on the same classic 4 km stretch in Fumone. In the evening the opening from the Bocca della Verità where the cars will leave in parade through the streets of the centre. The walkway will take the caravan under the Flavian Amphitheater, where the starting ceremony will take place at 19:00 before the SPS1 “Colosseo”, with first start at 20:05. The biggest part of the rally is expected on Saturday, with two laps on the triptych of special stages “Guarcino-Altipiani di Arcinazzo” (11.72 km – SS2 at 10:03, SS5 at 15:02), the longest “Rocca di Cave -Subiaco” (32,30 km – SS3 11:06 and SS6 16:05) and “Affile-Bellegra” (7,32 km – SS4 12:09 and SS7 17:08). Sunday will issue the verdicts with two laps on three other different timed stretches; the short “Fiuggi” (6.72 km – SS8 7:51 and SS13 17:05) will open and close the final session as Power Stage for the European Championship, then “Alatri” (6.96 km – SS9 8:51 and SS11 13:01) and the other traditional test “Santopadre” (29.08 km – SS10 10:16 and SS12 14:26). Fiuggi will once again be the central point of reference for the hot phase, where the Assistance Park and the Headquarters are set up, and will host the final award ceremony, in Corso Nuova Italia, starting at 18:00 on Sunday.