Rome, Tuesday, November 19th, 2019 – The closing round of the ACI Sport Season is approaching with the 10th Tuscan Rewind, the rally that will decide the title of the Italian Rally 2019 Championship and that will also close the Italian Gravel Trophy 2019. The rally organized by Eventstyle srl will take place this coming weekend, from Friday 22nd to Saturday 23rd, in Montalcino and will have a coefficient of 1.5 for both series. The spectacle will be exciting considering that 123 cars will take part in the event, 85 of which in the modern rally series that will also have a side by side format with the 38 historic cars that will contest the closer of the Historic Gravel Trophy and Sport Regularity.

 
ITALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP| Spotlights will be on the four drivers that will battle out the Italian title. These four, considering the 7 out of 9 results available, are still very compact on top of the standings. The challenge of the Tuscan Rewind could also favour the gravel specialists. The Gravel Trophy drivers could also slide in on top and steal heavy points for the classification.

The first of the four is Giandomenico Basso who scored 84,50 points so far. He will have Lorenzo Granai at the notes in the Skoda Fabia R5 run by Metior Sport fitting Michelin tyres. He is having the edge at the moment despite having to discard one of the 8 results collected so far. His three rivals all have a DNF to discard in their path. Simone Campedelli is second at 68,75 points: should he win, he will clinch the title. He will have Tania Canton reading the pace notes in the M-Sport Fiesta R5 fitting Pirelli tyres. In the constructors' championship Ford (75,50 pt) is currently leading Citroen (68,25 pt). Campedelli - 2007 Gravel Champion – already took place in the Tuscan rally one year ago on a historic Ford Escort RS MK II. Andrea Crugnola is third at 67,25 points. He will be for the first time on the gravel in the Volkswagen Polo R5 run by HK Racing with Pirelli tyres together with Pietro Ometto. Luca Rossetti follows at 65,50 points. The latter as Crugnola, will have to win the race to get the title and place one car between himself and his rivals. He will give his best in the Citroen C3 R5 using Pirelli tyres with Eleonora Mori at the notes. Alessio Profeta, and Sergio Raccuia will also try to get a strong result in the Skoda Fabia R5, despite being out of the games for the title.

ITALIAN GRAVEL TROPHY It will be interesting to follow also the CIRT drivers that will try to come to the fore. On all the new Italian Gravel Champion Stephane Consani. Fresh winner of the title in the previous round, the French will share again the Fabia R5 with Thibault De La Haye and will try to score the fifth win in five rallies. Alongside him, the other top names of the Gravel Trophy like Nicolò Marchioro, who is second on another Fabia R5, Umberto Scandola who is third in the Hyundai i20 R5 and Paolo Andreucci in the Peugeot 208 R5. An eye will have to be kept on other drivers like Andrea Dalmazzini, who will be at the debut in the new Ford Fiesta R5 of GB Motors, Massimo Squarcialupi also on the R5, Luca Hoelbling in the second i20 fielded by Hyundai Rally Team Italia and two veterans like Luciano Cobbe and Tullio Luigi Versace in the Fabia R5. Giacomo Costenaro will also partake in the closing round trying to slide in on top in the Czech R5.

 
OUTSIDERS | Some big names will also be among the outsiders in the R5 cars. At the Tuscan, 30 drivers will be present like the 9 time moto-cross world champion Tony Cairoli, who will be at the debut in a rally in the Fabia R5, with CIWRC champion Anna Tomasi at the notes. Several CIRT drivers return for this rally, like Renato Travaglia who was Italian Champion in 2002 and European Champion in 2002-2005. He also won the Gravel Trophy in 2014 and on this occasion he will drive a Fabia R5, as Edoardo Bresolin who was second last year and Alessandro Taddei in the i20. The latter holds the record of 4 wins at the Tuscan. The young CIR Historic talent Alberto Battistolli will also be present in the Fabia R5. Two foreign drivers will be present too: Ioannis Papadimitriou and Robert Consani, who is Stephane’s brother, also in the Fabia.

CIR JUNIOR and CIR 2RM | The Tuscan Rewind will provide an occasion to celebrate the victory of the Italian Rally Junior Championship for Marco Pollara and the 2WD Championship for Tommaso Ciuffi. The young Sicilian won the second Italian title (the first dates back to 2017) early, as his only rival, Giuseppe Testa, did not enter this rally. Pollara is, therefore, the best of the 7 ACI Team Italia’s drivers in the R2 Ford Fiesta before the start. The young Tuscan is the new 2WD Champion instead. Ciuffi will celebrate his win in the Peugeot 208 after clinching the title at the Rally Due Valli. Up for grabs is the 2WD Constructors title where Peugeot (141pt) has a slight edge on Ford (137 pt).

HISTORIC |The focus of historic cars is on the TTRS. This is going to be the closer of the Trophy that will become Italian Historic Gravel Trophy next year. The Italian and European Champion “Lucky” will be present in his Delta Integrale. He won in Montalcino one year ago. “Lucky” will challenge the big names of the TTRS in the IV Group, like Mauro Sipsz in the Lancia Delta 037 and Simone Romagna in another Delta.

 
ON TV | The Tuscan Rewind will kick off from Montalcino’s Piazza del Popolo on Friday afternoon at 14:30. The first ACI Sport live connection will be at 15.12. SS1 will be covered live by Rai Sport, raisport.rai.it and Rai Play. The stage “San Giovanni d’Asso” will be followed by eight cameras and a drone that will cover the whole stage (2,05 km). Verdicts will then be given on Saturday when the rally will go through 7 more stages. The prize ceremony will take place at 16:00 in Montalcino.