San Marino Republic, Thursday 7 July 2016 – All is set ahead of edition 44 of the classic San Marino race: fifth round of the Italian Rally Championship valid also for the Rally Junior and 2WD but also as third act of the Gravel Trophy and second of the Italian Cross Country Championship.
The event organized by FAMS San Marino will be the last round of CIR 2016 before the summer break and will give the first verdicts ahead of the final sprint. Paolo Andreucci and his Peugeot 208 R T16 R5 are currently leading the classification of the Italian championship with 53,50 points. The Tuscany driver and Peugeot will hunt the third victory straight after the ones obtained in 2014 and 2015. The driver from Verona Umberto Scandola of SKODA Italia Motorsport is chasing him at 45 points. He comes from the WRC round held in Sardinia and is motivated to keep his victory streak going after the win at Adriatico on the Skoda Fabia R5. The third place in the classification is occupied by Giandomenico Basso, Ford Fiesta R5, who stands at 39,75 points. He is forced to win the race to stay in the fight for the title. The entry list of the San Marino' s race will also feature Simone Campedelli on the GPL powered Fiesta R5 run by BRC. Simone Tempestini, on Ford Fiesta R5, will also try and score some important points for CIR. The experienced Denis Colombini on Skoda Fabia R5 will also be present. In the Italian Rally Junior, Giuseppe Testa and his direct rival in the title hunt Marco Pollara will try and score heavy points on the tricky white roads of San Marino, as the two are split by just two points, while Giorgio Bernardi will have a go himself, all on Peugeot 208 R2. Beatrice Calvi, 208 R2, and Corinne Federighi on Renault Clio R3C will fight in the Junior for the Women Trophy. The drivers ready to fight for the 2WD Italian Championship will be quite numerous, starting from Ivan Ferrarotti and Luca Panzani both on Renault Clio R3C; Testa and Bernardi, but also Giandandrea Pisani, Fiat Abarth 500, Kevin Gilardoni, Clio R3, Sergio Marchetti, Renault New Clio RS, Federighi and Manuel Lugano, on Peugeot 208 R2.

The Rally announces to be quite spectacular also for the presence of the Gravel Trophy drivers. A lot of strong interpreters will be present, as Daniele Ceccoli and Skoda Fabia S2000 are currently leading the classification, with the Peugeot 207 S2000 of Andrea Dalmazzini and the Ford Fiesta R5 of Federico Della Casa following him. The young Nicolò Marchioro on Peugeot 208 T16 R5 will also be present. The title fight will also involve Luigi Ricci, Subaru Impreza, Pablo Biolghini on Peugeot 208 and Giovanni Manfrinato, on Ford Fiesta R5. Other gravel specialist will be present, such as Luca Hoelbling, on Skoda Fabia R5, Gianmarco Donetto, Tullio Versace, both on Fiesta R5 and Mattia Codato on Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII and the Peugeot 208 R2 of Tommaso Ciuffi, Jacopo Trevisani, Jordan Brocchi and Pellegrineschi. The latter three drivers and Giacomo Matteuzzi will compete also for the Renault Twingo R2 Top gravel trophy.

Technical scrutineering and shakedown will take place on Friday 8 July in Piandavello- Domagnano, from local 11.00 to 16.00. The official start of the rally will then take place for the second year in a row in Riccione's Viale Ceccarini in front of the Palazzo del Turismo with teams and cars presentations at 22.00. The actual race will kick off on Saturday at with seven stages: "Sestino" to be repeated three times, "Selvanera" twice and the famous "San Marino" stage, the only completely on tarmac in the historic heart of the San Marino Republic, also to be repeated twice. Two loops of the historic special "San Bartolomeo" and two of "Nerbisci" will conclude the racing programme on Sunday. The itinerary will comprise overall, 11 competitive stages, 5 distinct ones for a total of 122,39 km, 63,93 on Saturday on 7 SS and 58,46 on Sunday on 4 SS. The total liaison features 832.62 km.

Picture of the 43.San Marino Rally (Edition 2015).