An unprecedented spectacle at the Rally di Roma Capitale during the opening night. A big crowd, a lot of institutional representatives, and a major surprise in the standings. Tomorrow features a very challenging day with six special tests.
Rome, July 26th, 2024 – The Rally di Roma Capitale kicked off from the Colosseum in an incomparable setting, unique in the world. In front of a crowd cheering the teams, the event organized by Motorsport Italia and Max Rendina offered the first thrilling preview.
Present were the Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi, the Councillor for Major Events, Sport, Tourism, and Fashion of Roma Capitale Alessandro Onorato, the President of the Automobile Club d’Italia Angelo Sticchi Damiani, the President of the Automobile Club Roma Giuseppina Fusco, the President of the Capitoline Assembly Svetlana Celli, the Lazio Region Councillor Luciano Nobili, and Max Rendina, the event’s creator.
To sign the best time in the opening special stage at Colle Oppio was, to great surprise, the Ligurian Francesco Aragno, with Giancarla Guzzi in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. Already a protagonist at the Colosseum last year, this time he outdid everyone, perhaps earning one of the greatest satisfactions of his career by closing the prologue in the lead in the fifth round of the FIA European Rally Championship and the Italian Absolute Rally Championship Sparco.
Second on the 1.3-kilometer spectacular track was the 2023 winner Andrea Crugnola, with Pietro Elia Ometto in a Citroen C3 Rally2, trailing by 4 tenths. This underscores that the spectacular prologue in front of the Flavian Amphitheater produced a very tight ranking, with Slovenians Bostjan Avbelj and Damijan Andrejka in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, third at 1.2 seconds. Tied for fourth were Italians Andrea Mabellini and Virginia Lenzi in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, and Stéphane Lefebvre and Anthony Hamard in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2, 1.4 seconds behind. Fifth place went to Erik Cais and Igor Igor in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, 1.5 seconds behind.
After this start, the cars returned to Fiuggi for the overnight reorganization. The rally will resume tomorrow at 7:15 AM with six special stages, including the long “Santopadre – Fontana Liri” of 28.74 kilometers, which is particularly technical and challenging. Saturday’s program also includes the “Alatri” and “Guarcino-Altipiani” stages, each to be repeated twice. The race will not end tomorrow, but will continue on Sunday for the final day, so the competition is still very open.
The race can be followed live on Rally.tv (on demand), which will broadcast all the special stages. On Sunday, the cameras of RAI will also be back on, with two stages aired live on RAI Play, PS10 and PS13 “Monastero-Jenne”.
