The Rally Regione Piemonte has kicked off the second round of the Sparco 2023 Italian Absolute Rally Championship, with the competitive section in the opening Power Stage, the only stage of the inaugural day. After starting from the heart of Alba, where 186 verified crews took the start, the 2.29 km special stage in Castino saw French drivers Stephane Lefebvre and Andy Malfoy win in a Citroen C3 Rally 2 with a time of 1'46.074s. Lefebvre does not count for the Italian championship standings. Instead, it saw the leaders Andrea Crugnola and Pietro Ometto, in another Citroen, posting the best time among the drivers registered for the championship, enough to earn them the 3 points up for grabs in the Power Stage. The gap between the two Citroens was just 5 tenths of a second in favour of Lefebvre. Further behind were the other competitors, with Damiano De Tommaso, another driver from the Italian championship, and Sofia D'Ambrosio, at 1.3s, and Fabio Andolfi from Savona at 1.6s with local co-driver Nicolò Gonella, both in Skoda Fabia, earning them 2 and 1 point for the championship, respectively. With this result, the overall standings of the Sparco Italian Absolute Rally Championship remain unchanged in the top two positions, which are occupied by Crugnola and Andolfi, while De Tommaso moves up to third place.

The fifth overall time for New Zealand's European Rally leader Hayden Paddon, accompanied by compatriot Jared Hudson in a Hyundai i20 Rally2, 1.8s behind. Following in sixth overall time, fourth for the Sparco Italian Championship, is Giandomenico Basso from Treviso, making his seasonal debut, again with Lorenzo Granai, in the Skoda Fabia that brought him the 2021 title and with which he is rediscovering his rhythm. Behind him, the best crew in the Promotion Italian Rally Championship, Giacomo Scattolon from Pavia with Sauro Farnocchia in a Volkswagen Polo, were 2.6s off the pace, chased by the two Skoda Fabias of direct rivals for the special classification, Luca Bottarelli with Walter Pasini 0.9s behind, and Rudy Michelini with Matteo Nobili at 1.3s. They also earned 3, 2, and 1 points in the Promotion Italian Rally Championship. Completing the top ten overall positions, somewhat surprisingly, is the French duo Mathieu Arzeno with Romain Roche in a Skoda.

In the CIAR 2WD, there was a tight battle for the top spot, with Gianandrea Pisani immediately attacking and winning the stage with Simone Brachi on the Peugeot 208, achieving the 23rd overall time in 1'55.4s. Just behind, only 0.3s' adrift, the young 2001 class driver Gabriel Di Pietro, navigated by Andrea Dresti, managed to keep up with the leaders. Closing the virtual podium for the 2WD category, with a gap of 1.7s, was the crew composed of Fabio Farina and Gabriele Zanni.

The Rally Regione Piemonte was unfortunate for the Slovenian crew Avbelj-Andrejka, who rolled their Skoda Fabia during the power stage, interrupting the special stage. The crew was immediately okay, with Ferrarotti-Bizzocchi, also in a Skoda, who had already started the stage but were forced to stop when they reached the stranded car on the road. They will be assigned an imposed time. There was a small mistake for Francesco Aragno from Savona with Andrea Segir on a Skoda, as they spun in the middle of the stage, but then continued without any issues, albeit with a time gap of 11.2s.

There is nothing new in the single-make trophies within the CIAR Sparco, with the winners of previous seasons still leading the pack after SS1 at Ciocco. In the Suzuki Rally Cup, Matteo Giordano, with Manuela Siragusa in the co-driver's seat, pulled ahead of all the yellow-blue drivers by 2.4s. At the same time, in the GR Yaris Rally Cup, Thomas Paperini and Simone Fruini opened up a lead of 2.6s over the crews in the Japanese car. A significant advantage for the two leaders, considering the short 2.2 km stage.

SATURDAY'S PROGRAM | On Saturday, the rally will continue with 7 more tests, along three different timed sections of similar length, to complete a liaison that includes 101 km of timed stages out of a total of 493 km, including transfers. There will be two passes on "San Grato" (14.74 km | SS2 at 8:12 - SS4 at 12:14), three repetitions of "Igliano" (14.21 km | SS3 at 9:21, SS6 at 14:20, SS8 at 18:17) which will then conclude the rally, and two timed stages on "Roddino" (13.31 km | SS5 at 13:27, SS7 at 17:24). The finish is again scheduled in Alba, in via della Liberazione, starting at 19:38. Like the Power Stage and the entire first day, the second leg of the rally will be broadcast live on RAI Sport (channel 58 Freeview and RAI Play) and ACI Sport TV (visible on channel 228 Sky, acisport.it, App ACI Radio, Facebook @CIRally and @ACISportTV). The live coverage will start from SS2 "San Grato" on both channels and platforms, with constant updates on the federal broadcaster until the finish.

CIAR Sparco STANDINGS after the Power Stage: 1. Crugnola 23pt; 2. Andolfi 16pt; 3. De Tommaso 15pt; 4. Bottarelli 13pt; 5. Scattolon 10pt; 6. Ferrarotti 6pt; 7. Avbelj 4pt; 8. Michelini 3pt; 9. Rusce 2pt; 10. Dall’Era 1pt;

CIR Promotion STANDINGS after the Power Stage: 1. Bottarelli 24pt; 2. Scattolon 21pt; 3. Ferrarotti 12pt; 4. Avbelj-Michelini 10pt; 6. Rusce 6pt; 7. Mazzocchi 4pt; 8. Dall’Era 3pt; 9. Nicelli 2pt; 10. Brazzoli 1pt;

RALLY REGIONE PIEMONTE OVERALL CLASSIFICATION: 1. Lefebvre-Malfoy (Citroen C3 R5) In 1'46.074; 2. Crugnola-Ometto (Citroen C3 R5) at 0.514; 3. De Tommaso-D'ambrosio (Skoda Fabia Evo R5) at 1.305; 4. Andolfi-Gonella (Skoda Fabia Evo R5) at 1.688; 5. Paddon-Hudson (Hyundai I20 N R5) at 1.845; 6. Basso-Granai (Skoda Fabia Evo R5) at 2.390; 7. Scattolon-Farnocchia (Volkswagen Polo Gti R5) at 2.670; 8. Bottarelli-Pasini (Skoda Fabia Evo R5) at 3.616; 9. Michelini-Nobili (Skoda Fabia Evo R5) at 3.991; 10. Arzeno-Roche (Skoda Fabia Evo R5) at 4.778;

SPARCO ITALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2023 CALENDAR: March 10 -11 | Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio; April 14 aprile - 15 | #RA Rally Regione Piemonte; May 5-6 | Targa Florio Rally (coeff. 1,5); June 16-17 | San Marino Rally (coeff. 1,5); July 28-30 | Rally di Roma Capitale (coeff. 1,5); September 8-9 | Rally 1000 Miglia; September 29-30 | Rallye Sanremo; December 1-3 | ACI Rally Monza (coeff. 1,5).