The sprint to the finale of the Sparco Italian Rally Championship kicks off with the iconic Rally 1000 Miglia that will get underway on Friday, August 26 and Saturday, August 27. The 45th edition of the rally organized by AC Brescia will make the blue and red arrow vibrate again in the Brescia city center up to Piazzale Arnaldo on the occasion of the prize ceremony. The challenge lasting 580 km around Montichiari, which has been chosen as the heart of the event, will come first though. All is set for one of the most traditional Italian rallies that is much appreciated and that reached 163 cars entered in the two validities: the penultimate round of Sparco CIAR and the closing round of the 2nd Zone ACI Sport Rally Cup.

THE PROGRAM | Two crucial days for the season are ahead and will give their verdict after 9 tests and a total of 126 km competitive. The shakedown will be on Friday morning in Puegnago at 8.00, while the rally will kick off at 16.20 as the cars will exit the Centro Fiera of Montichiari, which will host the Service Park and Headquarters. The first and only test on Friday will be the classic opening Power Stage the “Valle Sabbia Dall’Era Valerio” (2,54 km), which will be available live on ACI Sport TV, (ch 228 Sky), acisport.it and Facebook @CIRally, @ACISportTV, while RAI Sport will show it recorded on FreeView ch. 57 at 22:00. The most intense day will be Saturday with a double loop of four tests: the short “Provaglio Val Sabbia” (10 km – SS2 at 7:15; SS6 at 14:07), “Irma” (14,45 km – SS3 at 8:18, SS7 at 15:10), “Moerna” (11,18 km – SS4 9:23, SS8 at 16:15) and the longest and often decisive test “Pertiche” (26,10 km – SS5 10.23, SS9 17:15). The prize ceremony of the Rally 1000 Miglia will be in Piazzale Arnaldo of Brescia on Saturday at 19:01 before the park ferme in the Museo Mille Miglia.

A TRIO HUNTING FOR THE TITLE | Under the spotlight is the fight involving the best of the Sparco CIAR that will try to aim for the title at the 1000 Miglia, waiting for the closing round at the Rally Due Valli, which will also enjoy an increased coefficient of 1.5. The best six results of the seven rounds will be summed up to define the Italian Champions 2022. The title hunt is still open for a lot of protagonists: Andrea Crugnola and Pietro Elia Ometto, Citroen C3 Rally2 run by FPF Sport, are leading the pack with 101,5 points. With two victories, always on the podium and never struggling, the driver from Varese supported by Movisport – which leads the teams' classification – will have to keep the momentum in a race that he nearly won last year, but that effectively he has never won. Ready for another challenge is Damiano De Tommaso, who is second 9.5 points short of Crugnola and leading the Italian Rally Promotion Championship. The other driver from Varese comes from the second victory in this campaign obtained at the Rally di Roma and is a credible contender in this final fight. De Tommaso will have to adapt to the notes of Massimo Bizzocchi in the Skoda Fabia of CR Motorsport, which is the leader among the Preparators, among the fields of Meteco Corse, in a rally that he only contested once last year. The third title contenders are Fabio Andolfi and Manuel Fenoli that are stuck at 61 points after their recent retirement. The driver from Savona will try and bounce back in his Skoda prepared by MS Munaretto if he wants to be in the title fight and close in on De Tommaso for the Promotion title.

After the Rally in Rome the others do not have any chances to get the title. These will try to win the rally like Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai in the Hyundai i20 of Friulmotor, that are still hunting for their first win of the season. Stefano Albertini and Danilo Fappani will be back after skipping one round. The BS Sport colour-bearers are the last winners of the Rally 1000 Miglia and will have another go at the victory in the Skoda of PA Racing to give some sense to a year mean with satisfaction so far. Rudy Michelini and Michele Perna will be present in the Volkswagen Polo of HK Racing. On the Bohemian Rally2 car run by Erreffe Rally Team, Giacomo Scattolon and Giovanni Bernacchini will try to bounce back from their retirement in Rome. The weekend in Brescia will offer a chance to shine to Christopher Lucchesi, who is the youngster supported by HP Sport, with Titti Ghilardi at the notes in the Skoda of GF Racing. They will try to get back on top of the Under 25 classification.
The Rally2 lot will be completed by the Skoda of Antonio Rusce who will be again with Sauro Farnocchia, by BB Competition’s Liberato Sulpizio, with Alessio Angeli at the notes, and by Patrizia Perosino with Veronica Verzoletto.

THE BIG UNDERDOGS | A lot of big names will try and slide in among the top places stealing some points for the classification. Among the local heroes, the expert Luca Pedersoli and Anna Tomasi will be in a Polo, the young Luca Bottarelli and Walter Pasini, Andrea Nucita and Rudy Pollet in a Fabia and Alessandro Perico could not miss the 1000 Miglia with Mauro Turati in another Skoda. The await is also mounting for the return after 11 years of Brescia’s Andrea Dallavilla, who was the Italian Champion in 1997 with Danilo Fappani in a Subaru Impreza, but this time he will be in a Skoda with Valentino Gaspari to contest his 200th rally.

THE 2WD | The battle for the Italian 2WD Championship is already over as the title has been won by Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi, which will be absent, but the rally will be important to complete the podium of the series. There is therefore room for other youngsters like Fabio Farina, who is second in the standings with Daniel Pozzi in Peugeot 208 and Christian Tiramani, who has shown constant growth in this debut season in another French Rally4 car with Enrico Bracchi. Among the Peugeot 208, Nicola Cazzaro will be supported by Nicolò Lazzerini, Emanuele Fiore by Andrea Casalini and Farbizio Giovanella by Andrea Dresti, while Daniele Campanaro and Irene Porcu will try to shine in a Ford Fiesta.

IN SEVEN FOR THE JUNIOR | Seven members of the ACI Team Italia will compete in the Rally 1000 Miglia for the fifth and penultimate act of the Italian Rally Junior Championship. The drivers in the Renault Clio Rally 5 managed directly by Motorsport Italian and fitting Pirelli tyres will be the protagonists of an epic battle that will be decided at the following round. Five of these can still aim for the title, like Alessandro Casella with Rosario Siragusano, which boosted their confidence in winning in Rome and reaching 70 points. Davide Nicelli and Tiziano Pieri are only 8 points shy of them and already discarded one result (the Sanremo). In Rome, Mattia Zanin spoiled a perfect season so far as he ended outside of the podium for the first time but is still third in the classification at 52 points. He will try to bounce back with Fabio Pizzol next to him. Two more points off the pace are Edoardo De Antoni and Martina Musiari, that are the most constant among the Juniors and still hunting for the first win of the season. There is still a faint hope for a stunning recovery for Matteo Ceriali, who is fifth at 28 points and will debut with Marta De Paoli on this occasion. The CIAR Junior entry list is completed by Sara Carra and Lorenzo Mezzina at their debut in Brescia and Fabio Solitro with Rosario Navarra, that already built some experience on these roads last year.

THE FOURTH ROUND FOR THE TOYOTAS | The competition is starting to be intense for the GR Yaris Rally Cup. The fourth round introduces the final stages in Brescia. So far, the Japanese trophy, which will see 10 Toyota Yaris GR of class R1T National 4x4 in Montichiari, seems to go Thomas Paperini’s ways as he claimed three wins. A lot of drivers will try and turn the situation in their favour, like the new entries Simone Rivia, who has already successfully competed in the Yaris and Riccardo Canzian, who is a known face in the Italian 2WD.

GIORDANO TRIES TO SEAL THE SUZUKI CUP| The Suzuki Rally Cup is heading to a sprint finale with the Rally 1000 Miglia that will come before the seventh and closing challenge that will be at the Liburna Terra. Among the 11 Swift Sport Hybrid of class RA5H National and Sport of class Racing Start, Matteo Giordano is leading the pack with four wins and will try to get the fifth which will earn him the title one round earlier. His main rivals are Giorgio Fichera, Roberto Pellé and the Under 25 leader Igor Iani, who will try to challenge the classification leader while hunting for the Italian R1 Championship’s title.

CRZ’S FINAL | The closing round of the 2nd Zone Rally Cup will await 57 cars. This round will have a coefficient of 1.5 and will decide not only the Zone winners, but also qualify for the forthcoming National Final of Rally ACI Sport Italian Cup. A lot of strong contenders for the zone comprising Lombardia and Liguria, include classification leader Andrea Spataro in Skoda Fabia, the local hero Ilario Bondioni in another Czech Rally2 car, and Patrizia Sciascia that is third in the 2nd Zone, also in a Skoda.

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

SPARCO CIAR CLASSIFICATION: 1. Crugnola 101,5pt; 2. De Tommaso 92pt; 3. Andolfi 61pt; 4. Basso, Albertini 38pt; 6. Scattolon 29pt; 7. Ciuffi 21,5pt; 8. Michelini 13,5pt; 9. Rusce 12pt; 10. Miele, Sulpizio 6pt;

CIR PROMOTION CLASSIFICATION: 1. De Tommaso 109pt; 2. Andolfi 83,5pt; 3. Scattolon 57pt; 4. Ciuffi 47pt; 5. Michelini 37pt

CIAR JUNIOR CLASSIFICATION: 1. Casella 70pt; 2. Nicelli 62pt; 3. Zanin 52pt; 4. De Antoni 50pt; 5. De Nuzzo 32pt; 6. Ceriali 28pt; 7. Carra 13pt; 8. Solitro 11pt