The atmosphere is heating up in the Langhe, Monferrato and Roero for the arrival of the Sparco Italian Rally Championship. The main interpreters of the discipline, both Italians and foreigners, will challenge each other in the context of the Rally of Alba. The race – that reached this year its 16th edition – will make its debut in the highest Italian rally series this Friday. Cinzano Rally Team set up a very exciting program that convinced 189 crews, from 11 different countries, to join the event. A lot of modern cars, 100, entered the fourth round of the Italian Championship, CIR Promotion, CIAR 2WD, Italian R1, and the ACI Sport Class and Category Cups, while the other 89 will take part in the third round of the Rally Cup 1st Zone ACI Sport.

THE PROGRAM, IN A NUTSHELL | This red-hot double two-day challenge will be based in Alba, where the headquarters will be based in Medford square, next to the service park, start and finish. The total liaison will be of 421,76 km, 120,67 km competitive and split into 9 stages. The shakedown will be in San Grato, in Santo Stefano Belbo, on Friday at local 8:00. The spectacle, covered on TV, of the Power Stage “985 Santero Spritz” (2,29 km) will award the first points: 3,2,1 to the top 3. The rest of the event will be on Saturday with 8 more stages, two loops on four tests all having roughly the same length. After every pair of stages, the service park will follow in Alba. The order of the stages follows: “San Grato” (14,74 km – PS2 at 8:10, PS6 at 14:50) and “Cossano” (14,70 km - PS3 at 8:41, PS7 at 15:21), “Borine” (14,93 km - PS4 11:00, PS8 17:40) and “Bossolasco” (14,82 km - PS5 11:31, PS9 18:15). The finish line and prize ceremony will be in Piazza Risorgimento at 19:35.

THE ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP | The round in Piedmont will be crucial for the Sparco Italian Rally Championship. It is not going to be decisive, as three further rounds will follow, the last of which will have coefficient 1.5, but it will definitely help shape the classification. Three different drivers enjoyed the victory in the initial three rounds, which shows how much open the championship is. Alba is going to be a new challenge for virtually all the participants, which on paper makes things even more balanced. The classification is currently led by the fast and constant Andrea Crugnola and Pietro Elia Ometto that totalled 66,5 points in the Citroen C3 managed by FPF Sport with Pirelli tyres. The driver from Varese of Movisport, the leading team of the Cup, has always finished on the podium and won all the power stages, but the last time he competed in Alba was nearly 15 years ago in the Suzuki Rally Cup. ACI Team Italia’s Damiano De Tommaso and Giorgia Ascalone, claimed their first win at the Targa Florio and installed themselves on top of the Italian Rally Promotion Championship. The pairing in the Skoda Fabia of CR Motorsport with Pirelli tyres, second 5.5 points shy of Crugnola-Ometto, impressed for the constancy of results and will aim to keep the pace up also in Alba. Fabio Andolfi and Manuel Fenoli also found the right pace and are third at 43 points from the top in the Skoda prepared by MS Munaretto fitting Michelin tyres. After the victory in Sanremo they now chase the top of the standings

Among the favourite crews, the 2021 champions of CIR Asphalt, nowadays called CIR Promotion, Stefano Albertini and Danilo Fappani will compete in the Skoda Fabia of PA Racing, which is leading the pack of the Preparator/Renters. The BS Sport pairing never seemed to be at one with their Skoda Fabia and never got on the podium, but the 33 points scored place them fourth in the provisional standings and give them chances to bounce back. The absolute 2021 champions Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai already used a joker in Sanremo. The warm-up in the Hyundai i20 with Pirelli tyres of Friulmotor being over, now they have to increase the pace. Giacomo Scattolon, in the Skoda of Erreffe Rally Team with Giovanni Bernacchini, are third in the CIR Promotion. Behind them, Rudy Michelini and Michele Perna in the Volkswagen Polo need a good result to get some morale in the title hunt. Tommaso Ciuffi, in the Skoda of TechnoRace supported by Gass Racing, has to turn around his classification with the help of the pride and confidence of the venue of the co-driver from Santo Stefano Belbo Nicolò Gonella. Simone Miele and Eleonora Mori come from fruitful training in the spot race at the Valtellina Cup won in the Citroen WRC. They will be back in the Skoda to continue their maiden season in the highest category. The driver from Varese is one of the few counting several participations in Alba, the last of which at the CIWRC 2020, and a victory in 2016. HP Sport’s Christopher Lucchesi and co-driverTitti Ghilardi in the Fabia of GF Racing will try to score some points after a Targa Florio that they finished outside of the top ten. Antonio Rusce with Giulia Paganoni, Hyundai i20 and Liberato Sulpizio with Alessio Angeli in the Skoda of BB Competition, will be present too.

THE WORLD CHAMPIONS | The big names of the Championship will have to face the competition of several high-level outsiders. The multiple-time winner Paolo Andreucci is contesting the Gravel Trophy this year but will be present in Alba for spot participation with Rudy Briani in the Skoda. Two world champions of the likes of the French Stephane Lefebvre, WRC3 champion in 2014 with Andy Malfoy in the Citroen C3 and New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon with John Kennard in the Hyundai i20 will be present too, as the current European Rally leader from Spain Efren Llarena and Sara Fernandez in another C3, while the WRC2 winner and current runner up in this year’s classification Nikolay Gryazin will be in a Skoda with co-driver Konstantin Aleksandrov. The foreign drivers not entered in the CIAR will be transparent to the championship’s classification.

2WD BATTLES | The Italian 2WD championship will have a lot of drivers at the start and the challenge is ogin to be interesting among the Rally4 cars. The young Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi took the lead in the standings in the Renault Clio. After the victory at the Targa Florio, they will have to face Gianandrea Pisani and Fabrizio Vecoli in the Peugeot 208, who won the first two rounds. Stefano Santero and Mirko Pelagantini will drive the Peugeot 208 on the home turf, while Fabio Farina and Gabriele Zanni are currently fourth in a similar car. A lot of Rally4 cars are from the French constructor, like that of Christian Tiramani and Enrico Bracchi, Fabrizio Giovanella and Andrea Dresti. Daniele Campanaro and Cosimo Ancillotti will try to bounce back from an unlucky round in the Ford Fiesta. Also present are the 208 of Pierluigi Maurino and Andrea Bruno and that of Emanuele Fiore, who returns after skipping one round, with Andrea Casalini.

GR YARIS |The GR Yaris Rally Cup continues its campaign next to the CIAR. The single-make trophy devised and promoted by Toyota Italy will count 12 crews in the National R1T 4WD Yaris GR in the second act of the season. The classification is currently led by Thomas Paperini, who won the opener at the Targa Florio. A lot of drivers will challenge him starting from Marco Gianesini the Finn Markus Manninen, the reigning champ Alessandro Ciardi and the Angelo Pucci Grossi, both trying to bounce back from the retirement in Sicily.

THE FOURTH ACT OF THE SUZUKI | Everyone against Matteo Giordano is going to be the theme in the Suzuki Rally Cup. The season of the trophy by Suzuki Italy follows the pace of the Italian championship and the fourth round will see 14 Swifts on track. The best of the 6 hybrid cars will be driven by the home hero who claimed two wins and a second-place finish at the Targa so far. Roberto Pellé is currently second in the Rally Cup, Igor Iani is third after winning in Sicily. The latter scored his maiden win in the Suzuki in Alba.

Giordano will have to try and keep the lead in the R1 Championship as he has a 1.5 points lead on Stefano Martinelli, who is his teammate and rival in the Suzuki Cup and the best in the Racing Start classification.

ZONE CUP | Nearly half of the entered drivers will take part in the Rally Cup 1st Zone ACI Sport. A total of 89 crews will challenge each other on 6 tests with the finish line on Saturday at 15:00. The best crews of the Areas Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta will receive increased points (coefficient 1.5), which are very important for the qualifiers of the ACI Sport Rally Cup’s National Finals that will take place at the end of the season on the occasion of the new Rally of Lazio. The Citroen C3 WRC of Alessandro Gino and Daniele Michi will open the way. They will be transparent to the CRZ classification but will produce spectacle on the Plus car. A total of 11 Rally2 cars will contest the CRZ; among these, is that of the Zone leader Elwis Chentre and Fabio Grimaldi in the Skoda. Jacopo Araldo is third on another Skoda with Daniele Araspi. An eye will also have to be kept on Federico Santini, also in a Skoda, with Marco Barsotti at the notes.

CIAR SPARCO CLASSIFICATION: 1. Crugnola (Citroen C3 Rally2) 66,50pt; 2. De Tommaso (Skoda Fabia Rally2) 61pt; 3. Andolfi (Skoda) 43pt; 4. Albertini (Skoda) 33pt; 5. Basso (Hyundai i20 NRally2) 28pt; 6. Scattolon (Skoda) 23pt; 7. Michelini (Volkswagen Polo GTI Rally2) 11,5pt; 8. Ciuffi (Skoda) - Miele (Skoda) 6pt;

CIAR SPARCO 2WD CLASSIFICATION: 1. Mabellini 39pt; 2. Pisani 30pt; 3. Santero 23pt; 4. Farina 20pt; 5. Tiramani 17pt; 6. Cazzaro 16pt; 7. Campanaro 15pt; 8. Fiore 10 pt; 9. Maurino 9pt; 10. Giovanella 8pt;

SPARCO ITALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2022: March 4-5 | 45° Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio; April 8-9 | 69° Rallye Sanremo; May 6-7 | 106° Targa Florio (coeff. 1,5); June 24-25 | 16° Rally di Alba; July 22-24 | Rally di Roma Capitale; August 26-27 | 45° Rally 1000 Miglia; October 7-8 | 40° Rally Due Valli Coeff. 1,5