A lot of protagonists in the 52nd Rally Friuli Venezia Giulia

A lot of crews at the start of the sixth round of the Italian Rally Championship, race valid also as 21st Historic East Alps. Start tomorrow from Gemona, the town symbol of the earthquake hitting 40 years ago.

Image
Thursday 25 August 2016 – The splendid valleys of Natisone and Torre, with base in Unesco's heritage site Cividale del Friuli, will welcome the Italian Rally Championship for the 52nd edition fo the Rally del Friuli Venezia Giulia.
The final details will be refined tomorrow Friday August 25th, as the first day will be opened in the morning with scrutineering and shakedown in the new location of Borgo Zampariul- Montenars, in the time slot 9.30/12.30. The start will be given at local 18 from the Duomo of Gemona with a short street stage. This is a choice to remember the dramatic earthquake that destroyed wide zones of this region forty years ago. Crews will head back to Cividale del Friuli after the stage for Service Park and night grouping.

This extraordinary race will have an exceptional entry list made by a total of 182 crews at the start, with four drivers that should have what it takes to aim to the win. The main protagonists of the CIR campaign will in fact be present in the race organized by Scuderia Friuli ACU:Paolo Andreucci and the home co-driver Anna Andreussi, will be on the works Peugeot 208 T16, Umberto Scandola and Guido D'Amore on the works Fabia R5, Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai on the petrol Ford Fiesta run by BRC, Simone Campedelli and Danilo Fappani on the GPL Ford Fiesta R5.

Alessandro Perico and Mauro Turati Peugeot 208 T16 R5, Michele Tassone and Alice De Marco on another Peugeot 208 T16 R5 will also be present and ready for the challenge.

These are the main contenders of the final victory, but the race of other protagonists will also have to be followed, starting from that of Simone Tempestini on Ford Fiesta R5, who comes from the recent World Rally Championship round in Germany where he strengthened his WRC 3 lead and in Junior, but also that of Antonio Rusce also on Fiesta R5. Tempestini and Rusce, will challenge each other and Campedelli, Perico and Tassone for the Rally Asphalt Trophy. The protagonists of the Italian 2WD Championship will also be present in Cividale. Ivan Ferrarotti and Luca Panzani will stage an all-Renault battle. The latter will aim to the big target in the Italian Championship but also in the Clio R3T Rally Trophy, competing against Kevin Gilardoni who has also entered the 2WD and the Clio R3T Trophy.  Corinne Federighi on Renault Clio R3C and Beatrice Calvi on Peugeot 208 R2 will challenge each other for the Women trophy. The challenge for the R1 Italian Championship will also be quite interesting, as the Swifts Sport R1 will also compete for the Suzuki Rally Trophy while the Twingos R1, will compete for the French single make trophy too. The Michelin Rally Cup will be another single make trophy going on stage in this event that will also be valid as seventh round of the Italian Historic Rally Championship, ninth European Historic Rally Championship, seventh of the Mitropa Rally Cup and seventh of the CEZ-Central European Zone. This round will also be valid for the Regional Aci Sport Championship andfor the National Rally of Slovenia.

The itinerary will comprise 11 stages for a total 517,900 kms, 152,430 of which competitive. The first day will feature the stages of "Gemona"(1,11 km),"Masarolis"(14,96 Km) "Montenars"(7,11 Km). Day two will include two stages to be repeated twice "Trivio-Prepotto" (16,89 Km) and "Mersino" (21,72 Km).

As usual, media coverage of the event devised by ACI Sport Service will be very important, with all details on ACI Sport web site. Rai Sport will show the highlights of the race in the evening of Saturday August 27th and on Sunday 28th. Five live streaming appointments, available in the Live Streaming section of the website acisportitalia.it, have also been scheduled for the 52nd edition of the Rally del Friuli.
Image
Two moments of the podium of the Rally del Friuli Venezia Giulia 2015