Brescia, Saturday, September 9th, 2023 – Winning a race in the Sparco Italian Rally Championship always has a sweet taste, but doing it on home asphalt is something unforgettable. Stefano Albertini and Danilo Fappani put in a superb performance and clinched the 46th edition of the Rally 1000 Miglia and added their names to the iconic Brescia race's hall of fame for the fourth time. A jubilant crowd awaited their Skoda Fabia from PA Racing, equipped with Pirelli tires, in the centre of Brescia. The race was marked by nine challenging special stages surrounded by the cheers of a bygone era, with smoke bombs and horns, a perfect expression of the event masterfully organized by the Automobile Club Brescia. Facing the corners where Albertini had grown up and that had already given him numerous successes undoubtedly helped him. He took the lead in the standings from the beginning of the second day of the race, waking up on Saturday after the short initial Power Stage the previous evening, won by the Italian Champions Crugnola-Ometto, the only ones to earn points in the SS1. The response from the local heroes was prompt, with four consecutive victories in the first pass through the "Provaglio Val Sabbia," "Bione," "Mura," and the long "Pertiche" special stages. The latter, once again, proved decisive this year with its 26 km length. At the midpoint, they had an 11.8-second advantage over the leaders of the CIAR Sparco, Andrea Crugnola and Pietro Elia Ometto, in the Citroen C3 Rally2 from FPF Sport, also shod with Pirelli tires. They tried to mount a comeback in the second round to aim for their sixth consecutive championship victory. The multi-titled Varese-born driver made a final push, securing two stage wins in the last two specials, including "Pertiche." However, Albertini held on and maintained a minimal gap of 2.5 seconds, enough to return to Piazzale Arnaldo as a hero in his homeland with the victory in hand.

The third place went to another local crew, Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi in a Skoda Fabia dressed by MRF, finishing 17.2 seconds behind the leader. The driver, fresh from a victory at the Rally Piancavallo, part of the Italian Asphalt Rally Championship where Albertini is currently the leader, only accumulated a few seconds of delay in the final stage and the first "Mura". For the rest of the race, he was consistently in the mix at the top.

Another young local driver, Luca Bottarelli, partnered with Marco Pollicino in a Skoda, finished fourth. He had a long battle for the overall podium before spinning in the first "Pertiche," losing about ten precious seconds. Nonetheless, this hiccup did not tarnish the solid race of the Brescia-based driver, who finished 28.1 seconds behind Albertini but still secured a valuable placement to clinch the victory in the Italian Rally Promotion Championship, his third this season. With this result, Bottarelli will approach the Sanremo Rally with the necessary advantage to defend his lead in the CIRP title race. Following the retirement of Rudy Michelini, who delivered an excellent performance thwarted by a power steering issue that took him out of contention at the end, Slovenian driver Bostjan Avbelj finished fifth. Avbelj, driving another Czech car shared with Damijan Andrejka, remains in the thick of the championship battle, now 8 points behind Bottarelli, ahead of the final showdown in Sanremo. In sixth place, with a substantial gap, came Damiano De Tommaso, an ACI Team Italia driver navigated by Sofia D'Ambrosio, who struggled to find the right rhythm with his Skoda Fabia on the Brescia asphalt. For the Varese-born driver, this 1000 Miglia was a crucial stage to regain confidence and rack up kilometres after a disappointing performance at the Rally di Roma Capitale. Interrupting the lineup of Skoda cars was another Citroen C3, similar to Crugnola's, driven on the Brescia asphalt by Andrea Mazzocchi and Silvia Gallotti. They finished seventh, just 2 seconds behind the leaders but secured their first podium of the season in the Promotion category, putting them back in contention for third place in the championship. They were followed by a direct rival for the CIRP, Ivan Ferrarotti from Reggio Emilia, partnered with Massimo Bizzocchi, in another Fabia, who finished eighth with a 25-second lead over the local crew of Alberto Dall'Era and Luca Beltrame. The latter duo defended the ninth position from Liberato Sulpizio and Alessio Angeli from Frosinone, who completed the top ten with their Hyundai i20.

Davide Pesavento made a strong comeback in the Italian Absolute Rally Junior Championship, winning the Rally 1000 Miglia. He started determined right from the beginning and secured 6 stage wins out of 8, dominating the standings among the young talents of ACI Team Italia. It was a perfect outing for Pesavento in this Rally 1000 Miglia, including the points from the power stage, which now puts him in the lead alone after victories in Sicily and San Marino. The driver from Vicenza, navigated by Marco Frigo in one of the Renault Clio Rally5 cars prepared by Motorsport Italia and equipped with Pirelli tires from the junior series, faced strong competition from Igor Iani. Iani, paired with Stefano Tiraboschi, finished 12.5 seconds behind despite claiming two stage wins. Francesco Dei Ceci, navigated by Nicolò Lazzarini, placed third with a more significant gap of 57.7 seconds. This impressive result confirms the steady progress of the young Caserta-born driver, considering his age and his relatively short rally career, which effectively began this year. Just off the podium was Marco Zanin, navigated by Massimo Moriconi. Zanin initially held third place and even won the Power Stage but struggled to keep up with the top three. Matteo Doretto, partnered with Andrea Budoia, finished the race with a 1-minute and 30-second gap behind Pesavento, defending his position until the end against the Nerobutto brothers, Geronimo and Francesca, who finished just 2.9 seconds behind in fifth place. On the other hand, Riccardo Pederzani, navigated by Edoardo Brovelli, had an underwhelming race, plagued by constant issues and a lack of power in his Clio. The Varese-born driver finished eighth with a delay of 2 minutes and 27 seconds. Salvatore Pio Scannella from Nisseno had a challenging race, with two minor collisions, the second of which resulted in a damaged suspension arm. He finished 2.5 seconds behind Pederzani. It was crucial for Niko La Notte to reach the finish line after several challenging races, which he managed to do on the asphalt of the 1000 Miglia with Gabriel Morales at the notes.

A big victory in the Italian 2WD Championship for Gabriel Di Pietro, who, together with Andrea Dresti in the Peugeot 208 Rally4, secured their first win of the season. The redemption came timely for the young driver from Ossola after a bitter retirement in Rome. Di Pietro executed a pass on the last special stage to overtake Moreno Cambiaghi and Giulia Paganoni, who were also driving a French car. The Valtellina-born driver had been the main protagonist among the front-wheel-drive vehicles in the championship. He took the lead in the category on Saturday morning, following his strong performance in the Power Stage, which was precisely Di Pietro's doing. Cambiaghi then maintained a consistent pace throughout the day, claiming victory in three stages. However, Di Pietro made the decisive move on the final "Pertiche" stage, setting the second-best time in the category but completing his test in 5 seconds less than his rival, which was enough to secure the victory. Gianandrea Pisani, the former 2WD champion, was content with the third step of the podium this time. He was accompanied by Andrea Bartarelli and raced without much pressure, with the main goal of accumulating mileage and exploring new solutions for his 208 with various Michelin tire compounds. He capped off the event with a stage win in the final stage, securing third place with a 14.3-second gap.

Matteo Giordano and Manuela Siragusa triumphed in the Suzuki Rally Cup for the second consecutive time, achieving a perfect performance on the Brescia asphalt. Giordano, driving a Suzuki Swift Sport Hybrid from Alma Racing, clinched the single-make Japanese championship two events ahead of schedule after dominating in every part of Italy.

The fourth round of the GR Yaris Rally Cup offered thrilling moments and an extremely electrifying on-track battle. From this competition emerged Roman driver Simone Di Giovanni, navigated by Andrea Colapietro, securing their first victory in the single-make series.

The 46th Rally 1000 Miglia also featured a coefficient 1.5 event for the 2nd Zone Rally Cup, the penultimate event in the series covering the best races between Lombardy and Liguria. The victory went to Giovanni Dipalma from Varese, navigated by "Cobra," in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, ahead of Andrea Carella and Enrico Bracchi, also in Skoda cars. This marked Carella's return to racing after a season-long absence. The podium was entirely composed of Skoda Fabia cars, with Fabrizio Guerra and Giovanni Maifredini also making their mark. Among the notable participants in this 1000 Miglia was the extraordinary presence of the Citroen C3 WRC Plus, providing entertainment to the enthusiastic spectators on the special stages, with Brescia's Luca Pedersoli at the wheel and Andrea Adamo, the former Team Principal of Hyundai Motorsport in the World Rally Championship, on the notes.

 

CIAR SPARCO CLASSIFICATION: 1. Crugnola 159pt*; 2. Basso 62pt; 3. Andolfi 61pt; 4. De Tommaso, Avbelj 42pt; 6. Bottarelli 37;

CIR PROMOTION CLASSIFICATION: 1. Bottarelli 87pt; 2. Avbelj 79pt; 3. Ferrarotti 75,5pt; 4. Mazzocchi 48pt; 5. Scattolon 40pt;

CIAR 2WD CLASSIFICATION: 1. Pisani 107,5pt*; 2. Farina 61pt; 3. Cambiaghi 51,5pt; 4. Lucchesi 33pt; 5. Cardi 30,5pt;

CIAR JUNIOR CLASSIFICATION: 1. Pesavento 77pt; 2. Pederzani 58pt; 3. Iani 54pt; 4. Dei Ceci 46pt; 5. Scannella 44,5pt

*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)

 

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