Rome, Wednesday, July 20 2022 – The Rally di Roma Capitale is going to provide another chance to climb up to the top of Europe. The rally is scheduled for next 22-24 July. The 10th edition of the rally organized by Motorsport Italia is ready to launch the double challenge for the fifth act of the Sparco Italian Rally Championship and the sixth round of the FIA European Rally Championship. The Rally di Roma Capitale will be an unmissable event featuring 75 cars and will be also valid for the Italian Promotion Rally Championship, Italian Rally Junior, 2WD and the prestigious single-make cups Toyota GR Yaris Cup (third round) and Renault Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT (penultimate round).

THE PROGRAM | A big rally in Rome will bring the spectacle to the centre of the Eternal City and on the asphalts pn the Frosinone’s area. The complete coverage of the event will be available on the WRC+ All Live platform and RAI. Updates will also be granted by ACI Sport TV. The TV channel of the Federation is always visible on SKY Channel 228, www.acisport.it and Facebook @ACISportTV. It will provide coverage from the shakedown on Friday morning and starting ceremony in Castel Sant’Angelo at 19. RAI Sport (FreeView 57 HD) will cover the new and much-awaited Power Stage next to the Colosseum, the biggest Roman amphitheatre in the world,at 19.55, RAI Sport will follow the first pass on the “Fiuggi” test on Sunday at 8.00 and a final summary at 22.10, plus several specials in the Tg Sport. The updates on ACI Sport TV will continue also on Saturday and Sunday from the central points of the event. After the pass through the Capital city centre, three tests to be repeated are on the menu each day. On Saturday, July 23 the new test “Roccasecca - Colle S. Magno” (5,45 km) [at 9.10 and 15.50], will be followed by the long “Santopadre - Fontana Liri” (29,08 km) [at 10.05 and 16.45] and the loop will be closed by the “Guarcino -Altipiani” (11,75 km) [at 12.00 and 18.40]. On Sunday, the rally will begin and end with the “Fiuggi” (6,72 km) [at 08.08 and PW 16.08]. In between the long “Rocca di Cave - Subiaco” (32,30 km) [at 09.03 and 13.15] and the “Affile - Bellegra” (7,34 km) [at 10.06 and 14.18]. The itinerary is completely on asphalt and will include a total liaison of 876,92 km, 186,98 of which competitive split in 13 tests with start in Rome and finishing in Fiuggi at 17.00

CIAR SPARCO | All the gladiators of the Sparco Italian Rally Championship will be present at the Colosseum for the fifth round of the season. They will try and steal the spotlight from the rivals of the European Championship. Andrea Crugnola, after pulling away in the classification in Alba with Pietro Elia Ometto in the Citroen C3 Rally2, will be back on the asphalts that last year saw him close behind Giandomenico Basso. Eyes will be on the latter, who is the reigning champion and two times winner of the Rally di Roma Capitale with Lorenzo Granai, in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. The duel among the two crews will be relived again this year. The Production Italian Rally Championship leader Damiano De Tommaso and Giorgia Ascalone in the Skoda Fabia Rally2 will be trying to slide in the mix. The Italian driver is second in the overall CIAR classification and will have to defend the 8 points lead from Fabio Andolfi. The driver from Savona with Manuel Fenoli, will try to get the win that slipped out of their hands in Alba. They were sixth at the past edition of the Rally di Roma Capitale and third in the Italian Championship. Other protagonists to keep an eye on are Giacomo Scattolon and Giovanni Bernacchini, Tommaso Ciuffi and Nicolò Gonella, both crews in the Skoda Fabia Rally2 and Antonio Rusce with Roberto Mometti at the notes in the Hyundai i20 Rally2. Home hero Liberato Sulpizio and co-driver Alessio Angeli will be on the Skoda evo as the women crew made by Patrizia Perosino and her daughter Veronica Verzoletto.

FIA ERC | The best of the FIA Championship Rally will challenge each other in the sixth act of the season. The classification is currently led by 27 years old Efren Llarena. The Spaniard of Team MRF Tyres and co-driver Sara Fernandez will be back in the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, after competing in Alba in the Citroen. Last year they ended behind Basso, Crugnola and Norbert Herczig of Team MRF. Nil Solans is chasing him with a 46 points deficit and in Rome he will have Marc Marti at the notes in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. They will be trying to get a solid result to keep the fight up after two DNFs and a P11. Several Italians are constant presences in the European Championship and could shine among the ERC cars like the contenders for P3 Simone Tempestini and Sergio Itu. ACI Team Italia’s Alberto Battistolli and Simone Scattolin, Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton, also in the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo will be in the games too. Other Italians to keep an eye on are Campedelli and Battistolli, which could steal useful points to the Sparco CIAR, while the foreign drivers are transparents for the Italian Championship. The rally of all the driveres of the FIA ERC4 will have to be followed as Roberto Daprà and Luca Guglielmetti, Renault Clio Rally4, Giorgio Cogni and Gabriele Zanni, Clio Rally5 that entered the Clio Trophy by Toksport WRT. The reigning champion of the “Junior” is currently fourth in the classification of the single-make trophy behind Andrea Mazzocchi.

ASPHALT AGAIN FOR THE JUNIORS | From the gravel of the San Marino to the asphalts of the Capital, the challenge is on also among the youngsters of the Under 28 championship that are at the fourth act after the opener in Sanremo and the rounds at the Adriatico and San Marino. Among the Renault Clio Rally5 managed by Motorsport Italia with Pirelli tyres, Alessandro Casella is the driver to be followed. The Sicilian and co-driver Rosario Siragusano are leading the classification by two points on Davide Nicelli, who will try to maximize the knowledge of the itinerary at the rally that he won last year. Nicelli is the recent winner at the San Marino and will try to get another win with co-driver Tiziano Pieri. From ACI Team Italia, the third in the CIAR Junior, Mattia Zanin and Fabio Pizzol, have shown constant pace but are hunting for a quality leap that could allow them to fill the 7 points gap to Casella. The rest of the team, starting from Edoardo De Antoni and Martina Musiari – which are among the strongest after the San Marino, Guglielmo De Nuzzo and Fabio Grimaldi, Matteo Ceriali and Luca Ferraris will try to clock up some mileage. An important debut will be that of Sara Carra and Lorenzo Mezzina, and that of Fabio Solitro with Rosario Navarra.

ITALIAN 2WD | Spotlights will be also on the Italian 2WD Championship, especially on Andrea Mabellini who will be competing on several fronts. The objective for him and co-driver Virginia Lenzi, Renault Clio Rally4, will be the hunt for the Junior classification, but they will also be competing for the European where they are second in RC4 behind the Spanish driver Oscar Palomo. In the 2WD Fabio Farina and Daniel Pozzi will try to gain solid points on Mabellini in their Peugeot 208 Rally4. The young Christian Tiramani and Enrico Bracchi – that are sixth in the classification – are ready to debut in Rome in another Rally4 car of the French make. Nicola Cazzaro and Giovanni Brunaporto, also on Peugeot, are at their third presence in Rome and currently stand 7th in the 2WD CIAR.

GR YARIS RALLY CUP | The GR Yaris Rally Cup, that is the single make developed by Toyota Motor Italia, will go again through the roads that saw the debut of the trophy last year and that this year is part of the Rally di Roma Trophy, which will follow the same roads of the main event. The Japanese single-make cup will award points on Saturday. The winners of the Targa Florio and Alba Thomas Paperini and co-driver Simone Fruini will be the benchmark. The Finns Manninen-Sillanpaa, Tommaso Paleari Henssler and Davide Bozzo, but also the current leader of the juniors Jacopo Facco who was third in Piedmont Angelo Pucci Grossi will certainly challenge for the lead.

SPARCO CIAR CLASSIFICATION: 1. Crugnola (Citroen C3 Rally2) 87,50pt; 2. De Tommaso (Skoda Fabia Rally2) 69pt; 3. Andolfi (Skoda) 61pt; 4. Basso (Hyundai i20 NRally2) - Albertini (Skoda) - 38pt; 6. Scattolon (Skoda) 29pt; 7. Michelini (VW Polo GTI Rally2) 13,50pt; 8. Ciuffi (Skoda) 11,50pt; 9. Miele (Skoda) - Profeta (Skoda) 6pt; 11. Rusce (Hyundai) 4pt; 12. Lucchesi (Skoda) Jr 3pt.
CIAR JUNIOR CLASSIFICATION: 1. Casella 49 pt; 2. Nicelli 47pt; 3. Zanin 43pt; 4. De Antoni 38pt;5. De Nuzzo 22pt ;6. Ceriali 18pt;7. Gianaroli 10pt;8. Carra 9pt; 9. Porta - Solitro 8pt
CIR PROMOTION CLASSIFICATION: 1. De Tommaso 86pt; 2. Andolfi 81,50pt; 3. Scattolon 56pt; 4. Michelini 37pt; 5. Ciuffi 32pt; 6. Profeta 21pt; 7. Lucchesi Jr 20,50pt
2WD CLASSIFICATION: 1. Mabellini 61,50pt; 2. Farina 37pt; 3. Pisani 30pt; 4. Santero 29pt; 5. Campanaro 27,50pt; 6. Tiramani 25pt; 7. Cazzaro 20pt
CIAR CONSTRUCTORS: 1. Skoda 107,50pt; 2. Citroen 63pt; 3. Hyundai 37pt; 4.Volkswagen 14,50pt; 5. Peugeot 1pt.

SPARCO ITALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2022 CALENDAR: 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

In the pictures: the podium of the Rally di Roma Capitale 2021 (Italian Championship) and the Citroen C3 Rally2 of current Sparco CIAR leaders Crugnola-Ometto in action at the Rally of Alba