Brescia, Friday, September 8th, 2023 – Impressive! The already Italian Champion, Andrea Crugnola, kicked off the Rally 1000 Miglia with a victory in the first special stage, "Valle Sabbia - Dall'Era Valerio." Adjectives are in abundance for the Varese-born Crugnola and his co-driver Pietro Elia Ometto, who arrived in Brescia for the sixth round of the Sparco Italian Rally Championship with the title already under their belt, without pressure, but this time showing even more determination than any other crew among the 190 starters in the race organized by the Automobile Club Brescia. They clocked a time of 1 minute and 45.2 seconds in the short 2.54 km Power Stage, which, following the classic format of the Italian championship, opened the competition and awarded them the first 3 points of the race with this outstanding performance. It was a record time on this track, beating Crugnola-Ometto's previous record by 1.3s.

But this is just a taste of the rally that will truly heat up and be decided on Saturday, with the other 8 tests on four different timed sections on the Brescia asphalt. Among the top contenders chasing Crugnola are two local drivers, both not registered in the Italian championship but still taking points away from the CIAR Sparco crews, with the second and third-best times on the stage. Youngsters Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi were just 1 and 1.4s behind, followed by the more experienced Stefano Albertini and Danilo Fappani, both driving Skoda cars. These two crews were driven by enthusiasm and hometown support, firmly establishing themselves among the leaders of the Absolute Championship. In particular, the first crew recently won the Rally Piancavallo in the Italian Asphalt Rally Championship, for which the second crew is currently the points leader and a strong contender for the title.

Giacomo Scattolon and his experienced co-driver Sauro Farnocchia, in a Volkswagen Polo, also performed exceptionally well, earning 3 points in the Power Stage for the Italian Rally Promotion Championship. The top five drivers were all quick out of the gate, as Bostjan Avbelj was just 2-tenths of a second slower than Scattolon, earning him 2 points. The Slovenian driver finished only 1.9s behind the current leader, making the top 5 in this 46th Rally 1000 Miglia separated by less than 2 seconds. Luca Bottarelli, the leader of the Italian Promotion Rally Championship before this round, completed the stage in 1 minute and 48 seconds. He shared a Skoda Fabia with Marco Pollicino, earning a single point.

Returning to the CIAR Sparco, Andrea Nucita, paired with Rudy Pollet in a Hyundai I20, took a cautious start. However, Nucita, along with Bottarelli and one of the anticipated protagonists of the 1000 Miglia, Damiano De Tommaso, navigated by Sofia D'Ambrosio in another Skoda, put on an exciting show. These three crews were separated by just over a tenth of a second. Rounding out the top ten positions were Rudy Michelini with Nicola Angilletta and Ivan Ferrarotti with notes from Massimo Bizzocchi, both in other Czech cars.

After suffering bad luck in Rome, Davide Pesavento, one of the young talents of ACI Team Italia competing in the Italian Absolute Rally Junior Championship, all driving Renault Clio Rally 5 cars prepared by Motorsport Italia and equipped with Pirelli tyres, made a strong comeback. The 2001-born driver from Roana, navigated by Marco Frigo, won the power stage with a narrow advantage, just 7 tenths of a second ahead of Francesco Dei Ceci and Nicolò Lazzarini. Marco Zanin, partnered with Massimo Moriconi, secured the podium and one point, trailing by 1.9s from the top.

After winning in Rome and being crowned champion, Gianandrea Pisani, making his debut with co-driver Andrea Dresti in his Peugeot 208, showcased his skills on the winding roads, leaving a few tenths in Valle Sabbia. As a result, Gabriel Di Pietro and Andrea Dresti took the lead in the CIAR 2WD category, with a margin of 6-tenths of a second over the champion. This lead will need to be defended tomorrow, as Moreno Cambiaghi and Giulia Paganoni, who finished third, are still in contention for high positions in the championship reserved for "all-forward" cars.

In the Suzuki Rally Cup, Matteo Giordano and Manuela Siragusa immediately played their cards taking the lead in the race that could crown him the winner of the trophy for the second consecutive time. In the GR Yaris Rally Cup, the competition is wide open because the under-25 Jacopo Facco, navigated by Nicola Doria, won the stage by a negligible margin of 0.03s over Thomas Paperini and Simone Fruini. The first of the gentleman drivers over 55, "Pedro," navigated by Manuel Fenoli, is in contention, while Rachele Somaschini leads the Women classification paired with Arianna Faustini.

 

SPARCO CIAR CLASSIFICATION: 1. Crugnola 143pt*; 2. Basso 62pt; 3. Andolfi 61pt; 4. De Tommaso 36pt; 5. Avbelj 34pt;

CIR PROMOTION CLASSIFICATION: 1. Bottarelli 67pt; 2. Ferrarotti 65,5pt; 3. Avbelj 64pt; 4. Mazzocchi 36pt; 5. Scattolon 38pt;

CIR 2WD CLASSIFICATION: 1. Pisani 97,5pt*; 2. Farina 61pt; 3. Cambiaghi 39,5pt; 4. Lucchesi 33pt; 5. Cogni 28,5pt

CIAR JUNIOR CLASSIFICATION: 1. Pesavento 57pt; 2. Pederzani 54pt; 3. Scannella 41,5 pt; 4. Iani 39pt; 5. Dei Ceci 34pt;

*already Italian Champion

 

SPARCO ITALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2023: March 10 -11 | Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio; April 14 -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 | Rally di Monza (coeff. 1,5)

 

#CIRally #tricolorerally #ACISport #Rally1000Miglia

Updates, info, pictures and classifications are available at www.acisport.it/CIAR

ACI Sport TV (visibile su acisport.it - Sky 228 – Facebook @acisporttv – App ACI Radio)

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram - @CIRally

YOUTUBE - ACI SPORT TV

 

Press Office | Redazione Centrale ACI Sport

Daniele De Bonis | +39 339 7573991 | debonis@acisportpsa.it