Andrea Crugnola and Pietro Ometto, Hyundai I20 N Rally 2, lead the opening day of the 44th Rally 1000 Miglia

Damiano De Tommaso with Giorgia Ascalone in the Citroen C3 R5 and Giacomo Scattolon, Skoda Fabia R5, with co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini are respectively second and third. Six more tests are in the menu for tomorrow, September 4th on the classic stages of "Provaglio Val Sabbia”, "Moerna” and "Pertiche”.
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Montichiari (BS), Friday, September 3rd, 2021 – The Sparco Italian Rally Championship officially resumed with the opening day of the Rally 1000 Miglia, which is the sixth of eight rounds of the season. The best time was posted by Andrea Crugnola and Pietro Ometto of ACI Team Italia, which drove the new Hyundai i20 N Rally2 for the first time in the Sparco CIR. The Italian driver scored also three points as he won the Power Stage, which enjoyed live TV coverage on RAI Sport and ACI Sport TV. The second place went to Damiano De Tommaso and Giorgia Ascalone, Citroen C3 R5, that were 0.1s short of the lead, while Giacomo Scattolon and co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini, Skoda Fabia R5, were 0.2s off the pace. The shortened test of the TV coverage stage produced short gaps as the top four ended within one second. In the order, Stefano Albertini and Danilo Fappani (Skoda Fabia), Fabio Andolfi and Stefano Savoia (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) and, Tommaso Ciuffi with Niccolò Gonella (Volkswagen Polo Gti R5). The top ten was rounded off by Luca Bottarelli and Walter Pasini (Skoda Fabia Evo), Marco Pollara and Daniele Mangiarotti (Skoda Fabia Evo), while the tenth time was posted by Luca Pedersoli and Anna Tomasi (Volkswagen Polo).

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A small bite of just 2kms but tomorrow, Saturday, September 4th, six stages will follow and the race valid for the Rally Cup of ACI Sport 2nd Zone. The three stages will be the shortest “Provaglio Val Sabbia” (10,16 km) [SS2 at 8:18 and SS5 at 14:08], that will be followed by the “Moerna” (15,95km) [SS3 at 9:22 and SS6 at 15:12] and then the long and decisive “Pertiche” (19,53km) [SS4 at 10:21 and SS7 at 16:11]. The “chequered flag” will be waved at 17.51 in the Fair zone.

Regarding the live coverage of ACI Sport TV, SS2 will go live at 8:10 “Provaglio Val Sabbia”, which will be again a stage with 5 cameras in a row in a very spectacular spot right after the start. The connection will be passed over to SS4 “Pertiche” at 10:30 with the interviews with the protagonists. ACI Sport studio will then follow at 11:00 from the service park to make the point of the day before heading back to the stages. The Provaglio test will be covered again at 14:00, with the commentary by the driver Andrea Dallavilla. The line will be passed to the stop of SS5 “Moerna/2” at 15:20 before going back to Provaglio. The closing connection will be at 17:40 from the finish line of the much-awaited 44th edition of the Rally 1000 Miglia.

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Classification SS1 “Cave di Botticino”: 1. Crugnola - Ometto (Hyundai I20 N Rally 2) in 1'20.331; 2. De Tommaso - Ascalone (Citroen C3 R5) + 0.152; 3. Scattolon - Bernacchini (Volkswagen Polo Gti R5) + 0.272; 4. Albertini - Fappani (Skoda Fabia) +0.278; 5.Andolfi – Savoia (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) + 0.466 ; 6.Basso- Granai (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) + 0.592;7. Ciuffi - Gonella (Volkswagen Polo Gti R5) + 0.882;8. Bottarelli - Pasini (Skoda Fabia Evo) + 1.156; Pollara- Mangiarotti (Skoda Fabia Evo) + 1.397; 10. Pedersoli - Tomasi (Volkswagen Polo) + 1.629

CIR SPARCO AFTER SS1: Basso 76pt; Andolfi 64,50pt; Breen 57,50pt; Crugnola 50,50pt; Albertini 31pt; Ciuffi 23pt; Scattolon - De Tommaso 20pt

CIR SPARCO 2021 CALENDAR: RALLY DEL CIOCCO E VALLE DEL SERCHIO | March 12-13; RALLYE SANREMO | April 10-11; RALLY TARGA FLORIO | May 8-9; SAN MARINO RALLY - coeff. 1,5 | June 26-27; RALLY DI ROMA CAPITALE - coeff. 1,5 | July 24-26; RALLY 1000 MIGLIA | September 4-5; RALLY 2VALLI | October 9-10; LIBURNA TERRA - coeff. 1,5 | November 6-7