Simone Campedelli, Tania Canton and their Ford Fiesta R5 end day one of the 55th Rally del Friuli Venezia Giulia on top

The big names of the Italian Rally Championship started challenging each other in Udine. The second place to Luca Rossetti and Eleonora Mori, Citroen C3 R5, 0.5s shy. Stefano Albertini and Danilo Fappani third on Skoda Fabia R5.
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Udine, Friday. August 30th 2019 – A first intense racing day at the Rally del Friuli Venezia Giulia edition 55, with spectacle, big crowd and a great challenge between Simone Campedelli and Luca Rossetti that reached stage 4 with the same time with one stage left. Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton had the upper hand in the Città Fiera on the Ford Fiesta R5. They started pushing hard winning three of the five stages, behind the Orange 1 Racing crew Luca Rossetti and Eleonora Mori were second on the works Citroen C3 R5, with only 0.5s to the top. The third place of day one went to Stefano Albertini and Danilo Fappani on Skoda Fabia R5 that were 16s shy of the lead. The crew from Brescia that won the latest two editions in Udine put in a great day one and despite some errors managed to get provisional P3.

One second adrift were Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai, Fabia R5 run by Metior Sport. The driver had some driving and engine issues that made him lose precious seconds and he had to settle for P4 in day one. Ahead of tomorrow, the team has replaced the differential in service park at the end of the day.

The fifth place is currently occupied by Andrea Crugnola, who was fairly happy with his performance in the Skoda Fabia R5 run by Gass Racing. Relegated to the back in the first stage, Alessandro Perico and Mauro Turati on Skoda Fabia R5, had to serve 10s of penalty for jumping the start but managed to close in P6. Rudy Michelini had some electrical issues on his Skoda Fabia R5 and was seventh overall leading Marco Zannier, Renault Clio A7, and the Peugeot 208 R2 of Alessandro Casella and Antonio Rusce, whose Skoda Fabia R5 ended the top ten.

Tommaso Ciuffi had a positive day on the works Peugeot 208 R2 and leads the 2WD classification, followed by a good Davide Nicelli also on 208 R2.

Among the drivers of CIR Junior, Marco Pollara is leading the way while Giuseppe Testa is still attacking him. The third and fourth place are respectively held by Andrea Mazzocchi and Mattia Vita.

In the Italian R1, Daniele Campanaro and Ford Fiesta got the spotlight as the Suzuki Swift of Simone Rivia, who is followed by Andrea Scalzotto and Corrado Peloso.

The decisive stage of the Rally will be tomorrow, Saturday, August 31st. Three stages will be repeated twice and could change the result of the rally: "Trivio-San Leonardo"(14,15 km), “Drenchia” (14,82 km) and the long and tough "Mersino"(21, 72 km), for a total of 101,38 competitive km still to run. The finish line is expected to be in Udine at 18.00 in Piazza Libertà.

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CLASSIFICATION 55TH.RALLY DEL FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA – DAY 1: 1. Campedelli-Canton (Ford Fiesta R5) in 28'13.6; 2. Rossetti-Mori (Citroen C3 R5) at 0.5; 3. Albertini-Fappani (Skoda Fabia R5) at 16; 4. Basso-Granai (Skoda Fabia R5) at 17; 5. Crugnola-Ometto (Skoda Fabia R5) at 32; 6. Perico-Turati (Skoda Fabia R5) at 40.1; 7. Michelini-Perna (Skoda Fabia R5) at 48.7; 8. Zannier-Marcuzzi (Renault Clio W.) at 2’36.3; 9. Casella-Arlotta (Peugeot 208 R2) at 2’39.3; 10. Rusce-Farnocchia (Skoda Fabia R5) at 2’42.4.

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In the pictures: Simone Campedelli at the spectacle stage "Città Fiera"; the Citroen C3 R5 of Rossetti-Mori and the Skoda Fabia R5 of Basso-Granai at service park.