In second place Simone Campedelli, third Yoann Bonato. Llarena reaches out to the continental title. Great test for Crugnola, slowed down by a problem with the accelerator.

The 10th Rally di Roma Capitale, the event organized by Motorsport Italia and Max Rendina valid for the FIA ​​European Rally Championship and for the Absolute Italian Championship, ended with the victory of Damiano De Tommaso and Giorgia Ascalone (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo). Sparco Rally.

 

The twenty-six-year-old driver from Varese won a historic success, the first for him at European level, at the end of a highly prestigious performance. De Tommaso immediately took the lead after the SSS1 "Colosseo ACI Roma", the special stage show set up in the Colle Oppio area in front of the most famous Roman amphitheater in the world, which inaugurated the hostilities on Friday evening with a coup d'état. thrilling eye. Thanks to this first scratch, De Tommaso also won the special Trophy dedicated to Pasquale Amoroso, manager at the ACI Motor Sports Directorate who passed away a few years ago.

 

From that moment the challenge has pitted De Tommaso against the leader of the Absolute Italian Rally Sparco Championship Andrea Crugnola, with Pietro Elia Ometto in a Citroen C3 Rally2. Crugnola took the lead with great experience at the end of the first stage and built a good advantage, but an accelerator problem encountered on Sunday morning forced him to chase with more than a minute of gap. The Citroen driver thus closed in fifth place, complaining for what could have been and was not, given that De Tommaso, his direct rival in the CIAR Sparco, narrowed the gap to just 9 points.

 

Deserved and applauded second place for Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), their best result of the season in the European Championship. Good at competing in a race without major errors, Campedelli increased his pace in practice, scoring interesting times also on the “Rocca di Cave-Subiaco”, the longest stage of the rally and of both championships.

 

Photo finish podium for an excellent Yoann Bonato, with Benjamin Boulloud in a Citroen C3 Rally2. The Frenchman impressed with his speed in the last part of the race, with a super Power Stage that allowed him to overtake Llarena, who had been on the third step of the podium up to that moment.

 

However, the Spaniard also smiles, sailed by Sara Fernandez in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. Arrived in Rome as leader of the European Championship, Llarena led a constant and error-free race that at the end saw him fourth by a whisker. A result that, in light of the sixth place of Simone Tempestini-Sergiu Itu (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), first opponents for the FIA ​​ERC, allows Llarena to start with confidence towards the remaining two races of the championship, with a consistent advantage in his pocket. in the run-up to the title.

 

But the Rally di Roma Capitale was also tough and treacherous for many. Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai (Hyundai i20 N Rally2), winners here again last year, had a difficult weekend, first slowed down by three early starts, then off due to a road exit that damaged the safety equipment of their car . Retirement also for Fabio Andolfi-Manuel Fenoli (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), who damaged the engine by going off the road in the same section of Basso. Out also for Alberto Battistolli-Danilo Fappani (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), who after finishing not far from the top ten stopped on the last transfer to Fiuggi due to an anomaly in the fuel pump.

 

Beyond the ranking, the 2022 edition of the Rally di Roma Capitale will be remembered for the prologue evening on Friday 22 July which led the competitors first to the usual start at Castel Sant’Angelo and then to the show rehearsal at the Colosseum. An unprecedented organizational effort on the part of Motorsport Italia's staff that has made it possible to create an unprecedented show, destined to remain in the history books of this sport.

 

"It was a fantastic tenth birthday - said a moved Max Rendina, creator of the event - we have created an unrepeatable edition. I thank the Great Events Office of Roma Capitale, who supported us for the historical show test at the Colosseum, the Lazio Region, the Automobile Club of Italy and ACI Roma who have always supported us, the Municipality of Fiuggi which has hosted the paddock and all the 47 municipalities we passed through as well as our partners. Congratulations to our winners, Damiano De Tommaso and Virginia Lenzi, an Italian crew that was ahead of the European drivers, and see you next year ".

 

In the other top ten positions were the Spaniards Javier Pardo and Adrian Perez (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), seventh; Poles Grzegorz Grzyb with Adam Binieda (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) eighth; the Hungarians Miklos Csomos and Att