Palermo, Saturday May 5th, 2018 – Eight years down the road from the victory of a Sicilian driver, Andrea Nucita and Marco Vozzo on Hyundai I20 R5 won the Targa Florio, a race that is very dear to Sicilians but also a heritage of motorsport.

The driver from Santa Teresa di Riva (Messina) has shown his great skills keeping all the rivals of the Italian Championship behind in the third round of the Italian Rally Championship.

The rally organized by Automobile Club di Palermo in collaboration with Automobile Club d’Italia has been exciting and hard-fought and in the end, it rewarded the best driver, that is the one that interpreted at best the continuous switches of ground and weather conditions. With such a Nucita things have been difficult for everybody. Among the crews heading back home from Sicily happy, Paolo Andreucci, with Anna Andreussi, Peugeot 208 T16, that managed to clinch a second place that is very handy classification-wise. Since Nucita is not entered in the Championship, Paolo Andreucci, second at the flag, proceeded all the rivals in the title hunt, getting also the most of two heavy retirements: that of Simone Campedelli, Ford Fiesta R5 Orange 1 Racing, who went off when fighting for P1, and that of Andrea Crugnola, Fiesta R5 run by Ford Racing Italia, who had to stop due to the failure of a hub. These two retirements affected a bit the race and Andreucci raced thinking about the championship in the closing stages, without pushing too hard to get the rival ahead of him. Umberto Scandola and Guido D’ Amore, on Skoda Fabia R5, have also claimed a great P3 while clocking up some mileage on the new DMACK tyres.

The Sicilian Toto’ Riolo on Skoda Fabia R5, fourth absolute, and Luca Panzani, Ford Fiesta Evo II, leading after two stages and closing fifth winning the CIRA round, also run two very strong races. Antonio Rusce, on top in two of the most difficult stages due to the conditions and the surface, put in a great rally as did the Skoda Fabias R5 driven by Rudy Michelini and Giacomo Scattolon. The driver from Voghera posted the quickest time in the closing two stages. In the top ten ended also Giuseppe Testa on Ford Fiesta R5 and Marco Pollara, great tenth at the end of a quite difficult race due to some issues with the power steering of his Peugeot.

A great battle involved also the leader of the Junior classification Tommaso Ciuffi and Damiano De Tommaso, both part of ACI Team Italia and on a Peugeot 208 R2B. Towards the end, the driver from Varese of Peugeot Junior Team managed to lead the driver from Firenze, who has led the classification for a long time before losing time in a spin in the closing stages. The third in Junior was Andrea Mazzocchi, also on Peugeot 208 R2B.

Cars in R1 have also been fighting an exciting race valid for the championship and for the single make Suzuki Rally Trophy. The victory went to Giorgio Cogni and Gabriele Zanni. The young driver from Piacenza led the Swift of Fabio Poggio and Andrea Scalzotto, as both put in great times. Marco Limoncelli and Antonio Manganella led the DR1 of team ASD LM Motorsport Racing all the way to the flag in R1.

TARGA FLORIO – CLASSIFICATION: 1. Nucita-Vozzo (Hyundai I20 R5) in 1:37'40.7;2. Andreucci-Andreussi (Peugeot 208 T16 R5) at 19.2; 3. Scandola-D’Amore (Skoda Fabia R5) at 52.4; 4. Riolo-Rappa (Skoda Fabia R5) at 1’33.1; 5. Panzani-Pinelli (Ford Fiesta Evo II) at 1’46.21; 6. Rusce-Farnocchia (Ford Fiesta R5) at 2’24.0; 7.Scattolon-Zanini (Skoda Fabia R5) at 2’10.9; 8.Michelini-Castiglioni (Skoda Fabia R5) at 2’20.9; 9. Testa-Bizzocchi (Ford Fiesta R5) at 3’14.3; 10.Pollara-Princiotto (Peugeot 208 T16 R5) at 4’48.3

CIR STANDINGS: Andreucci 42 points; Scandola 20; Campedelli 22; Crugnola 17.

CIR TARMAC: Crugnola 30; Panzani 27; Michelini 18; Rusce 12; Scattolon 10.

CIR CONSTRUCTORS: Peugeot 43; Ford 38; Skoda 34.

CIR JUNIOR: Ciuffi 27; De Tommaso 25; Mazzocchi 22.