Udine, 27 August 2014 – A great and top class sports event will take place this coming weekend on the streets just north of Udine to celebrate the 50th Rally of Friuli Venezia Giulia, race destined to be part of the history of Italian rally for a lot of reasons. First of all, the number of entered drivers: a total of 158, as 73 cars will partake in the race valid for the Italian Rally Championship, 51 to the historic championship and 34 in the National Rally Trophy. Quality will be high as the best drivers and cars of the Italian rally will be present in the sixth round of the championship. A lot of battles are awaited for the absolute title, as well as for the Junior and Production ones.

In the absolute title hunt, the race of San Marino is still sub judice as Umberto Scandola still has to see whether his disqualification will be confirmed or not. The Veronese driving for Skoda is still leading the championship but is only 7 points clear of the GPL Ford Fiesta R5 of Giandomenico Basso and 9 of Peugeot 208 T16 R5 driven by Paolo Andreucci. These will be the main players of this race as two probable protagonists will not be present: the Sicilian Andrea Nucita and Simone Campedelli. The three aforementioned drivers will have to play their cards for the 2014 title. Alessandro Perico will also be present with the – new to him – Peugeot 208 T16 R5, while the Tuscan Rudy Michelini will drive the Citroen DS3 R5 run by Procar Motosport and Andrea Perego will debut on the Ford Fiesta R5.

This is going to be a crucial round also for the Italian Rally Junior Championship. The battle for the title seems to be a closed affair between the two Peugeot 208 R2 of Giacomo Scattolon and Stefano Albertini and the Renault Twingo R2 of Luca Panzani.

The classification is very short also in the Italian Production Championship as Fabrizio Junior Andolfi, Renault New Clio R3 leads Alex Vittalini, Citroen Ds 3R3, by 7 points and Ivan Ferrarotti, Renault New Clio R3 by 9.

The single-branded trophies are also still open to all results. These will be the Citroen Trophy Italy, the Peugeot Competition 208 Rally Top, the Renault Clio R3 Production Trophy, the Suzuki Rally Trophy and the Twingo R2 Top Trophy.

12 drivers of ACI Team Italy will be present at the rally.

ABSOLUTE CIR DRIVERS CLASSIFICATION: 1. Scandola 59 pt ;2.Basso 52; 3.Andreucci 50; 4.Nucita 27; 5. Albertini 22; Andolfi 21; 6. Perego 16; 7. 8. Campedelli 14; 9.Michelini 13; 10. Marchioro 11.

ABSOLUTE CIR CONSTRUCTORS: 1.Peugeot 94 pt; 2.Ford 66; 3.Skoda 59; 4.Renault 43.

CIR PRODUCTION: 1.Andolfi Jr. 38 pt;2. Vittalini 32; 3. Ferrarotti 30; 4. Marchioro 22.

CIR JUNIOR: 1.Scattolon 38 pt; 2.Panzani 30; 3. Albertini 27; 4.Carella 18.

A picture of the podium of 2013 Rally of Friuli Venezia Giulia.