San Marino’s Republic, Saturday, June 17th, 2023 - The roads of the Sparco Italian Absolute Rally Championship and the Italian Gravel Trophy intersected on the historic gravel roads of the 51st San Marino Rally. It was a two-in-one race that found its culmination in the final standing that favoured the protagonists of the gravel series. Nikolay Gryazin, alongside Kostantin Aleksandrov in a Skoda Fabia Rally2, secured victory in the San Marino leg of the championship, making their debut in the Gravel category. They dominated the majority of the challenge. Behind them, a battle within the battle unfolded between the two best performers of recent Italian rallies, the leaders of the national series. On one side, the reigning Absolute champion Andrea Crugnola with Pietro Ometto in a Citroen C3 Rally2, and on the other side, the reigning Gravel Trophy champion Paolo Andreucci alongside Rudy Briani in another Skoda. It was a clash between generations, a duel between drivers, but also between two prominent tire manufacturers. Gryazin and Crugnola were supported by Pirelli, while Andreucci had MRF tires, manufactured in India.

In a photo finish behind the winner Gryazin, Andrea Crugnola secured second place, snatching it from Paolo Andreucci on the final of the 9 special stages, the longest one called Lunano, by just 1 tenth of a second. For the driver from Varese, it marked his fourth consecutive victory, and it was the most significant considering the coefficient of 1.5, which, combined with the 2 points earned in the initial Power Stage on Friday, allowed him to extend his lead in the Sparco championship to a total of 108 points. It was an impressive achievement, but with four rallies still on the calendar, two of them with a coefficient of 1.5, nothing is set in stone yet. The third-place finish does not do justice to Andreucci's outstanding performance, as he was the fastest in the opening stage. However, he can still be satisfied with the second place in the Gravel category, considering that Crugnola is transparent for that classification, allowing Andreucci to consolidate his championship lead.

Fabio Andolfi and Nicolò Gonella finished just below the overall podium, very close in terms of times to the leader of the Sparco CIAR, but with the burden of a 10-second penalty accumulated on the first day of the rally. Crunching the numbers, this penalty prevented them from fully contending for the top spot in the major championship. Giandomenico Basso with Lorenzo Granai in a Skoda retired on the penultimate special stage, just within sight of the finish line. Despite it being a race that did not have a high profile, they secured fifth place overall and third place in the CIRT category. Tommaso Ciuffi, paired with Pietro Cigni, took advantage of the situation and claimed that position. The performance of the Florentine driver deserves special mention because, in the summary of the stages won, he and Andreucci were the only two drivers who outperformed Gryazin, the winner of seven timed sections. With this result, Ciuffi moved up to second place in the overall standings of the Gravel Trophy. In the latter part of the top ten, Enrico Oldrati finished sixth alongside Elia De Guio, followed by Umberto Scandola with Daniele Michi as co-driver, securing an excellent seventh place after a long period of inactivity. Tuscany's Luca Panzani, with Francesco Pinelli as co-driver, made a great comeback in the final part of the San Marino Rally, finishing in eighth place. Jader Vagnini, paired with Martina Musiari, showed promise among the best in the Gravel category and was the top-ranking Sammarinese driver. A notable tenth place was achieved by Massimiliano Tonso, with local co-driver Massimo Bizzocchi, who lost positions towards the end despite a promising start. In the latter part of the standings, all the drivers were aboard Skoda Fabia Rally 2 cars.

Just outside the top ten were the other Sammarinese driver Daniele Ceccoli with Piercarlo Capolongo, and Angelo Pucci Grossi, son of the renowned driver, with Francesco Cardinali, both driving four-wheel-drive cars from the Czech manufacturer.

The San Marino Rally also confirmed the leadership in the Italian Absolute Junior Rally Championship, with Davide Pesavento and Marco Frigo achieving their second consecutive victory in the national championship. It was also the first victory on gravel for the young drivers of ACI Team Italia, who are part of the federal project. The young driver from Vicenza, born in 2001 in Roana, demonstrated his skills once again, replicating his success at the Targa Florio on the gravel roads of San Marino. He piloted his Renault Clio Rally5 to stand out among the ten cars participating, all equipped with Pirelli tires and managed exclusively by Motorsport Italia. They finished with a 19.8-second advantage over the crew of the Nerobutto brothers from Trento, who made a strong comeback on the familiar terrain, showing their potential for the title chase in the junior category. Completing the Junior podium, the third position was secured by Riccardo Pederzani from Varese with Edoardo Brovelli, one of the more experienced drivers in the group and one of the few who had previously competed on the roads of San Marino.

Gianandrea Pisani and Andrea Colapietro also celebrated a sweet victory, securing their fourth consecutive win in the 2WD category of the Italian Absolute Rally Championship. The driver from Lucca dominated the category, which was mostly populated by Peugeot 208 Rally 4 cars, even on the gravel roads. However, Fabio Farina, navigated by Gabriele Zanni, managed to briefly take the lead in the standings with two stage wins. In the end, the driver from Trento finished 6.5 seconds behind the leader Pisani. There was also a good result for Giorgio Cogni from Piacenza, paired with Alessandro Cervi, who secured the third position and a spot on the category podium.

It was a prestigious debut under the shadow of Mount Titan for the young international talents of the FIA Rally Star Training Season, with Taylor Gill, navigated by Daniel Brkic, standing out among them. Six drivers competed in Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars in the first of the six planned events on both gravel and asphalt. Right from the power stage, the Australian driver showed impressive pace, setting excellent times that ultimately earned him the 15th overall position.

AN MARINO RALLY OVERALL CLASSIFICATION: 1. Gryazin-Aleksandrov (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) in 53'11.6; 2. Crugnola-Ometto (Citroen C3 R5) at 32.0; 3. Andreucci-Briani (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) at 32.1; 4. Andolfi-Gonella (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) at 42.9; 5. Ciuffi-Cigni (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) at 1'10.5; 6. Oldrati-De Guio (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) at 1'46.6; 7. Scandola-Michi (Skoda Fabia R5) at 2'11.1; 8. Panzani-Pinelli (Skoda Fabia R5) at 2'12.6; 9. Vagnini-Musiari (Skoda Fabia R5) at 2'16.2; 10. Tonso-Bizzocchi (Skoda Fabia R5) at 2'51.0;

SPARCO CIAR CLASSIFICATION: 1. Crugnola 108pt; 2. Andolfi 61pt; 3. Basso 38,5pt; 4. De Tommaso 36pt; 5. Bottarelli 21pt;

CIRT CLASSIFICATION: 1. Andreucci 27pt; 2. Ciuffi 20pt; 3. Gryazin 15pt; 4. Panzani 13pt; 5. Costenaro 12pt; 6. Vagnini 10pt; 7. Oldrati 10pt; 8. Dati 9pt; 9. Scandola 6pt; 10. Tali-Tonso 3pt;

SPARCO ITALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2023: March 10 - March 11 | Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio; April 14 -April 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)

ITALIAN GRAVEL TROPHY 2023 CALENDAR: March 18-19 | Rally Val d'Orcia; May 20-21 | Rally Adriatico; June 16-17 | San Marino Rally; September 15-16 | Rally dei Nuraghi and del Vermentino; October 21-22 | Rally delle Marche; December 1-3 | ACI Rally Monza