Rome July 13th, 2019. The 7th Rally di Roma Capitale will be the centre of international motorsport from July 17th to 21st. The rally organized by Motorsport Italia will be an important event that will place Rome, Ciociaria and Ostia under the international spotlights as it will be valid as the 5th round of the European Rally Championship and Italian Rally Championship, two very high-level championships that gathered in the Eternal City the best crews out there and the most promising emerging talents.
The Polish pairing Lukasz Habaj and Daniel Dymurski reach this Italian round as the European Championship leaders on Skoda Fabia R5. They come from the victory in the Azores and two podiums in Spain and Poland, the latest on June 30th. The crew of the Citroen C3 R5 composed by the Russians Alexey Lukyanuk and Alexey Arnautov chase them and won the Rally Poland. The third place of the European classification is currently held by the young Brits Chris Ingram and Ross Whittock, also on Skoda Fabia. They also lead the ERC 1 Junior classification as they won the Portugal round in this class. Other pairings trying to climb the classifications up are the Hungarians Norbert Herczig and Ramòn Ferencz on Volkswagen Polo R5, while other protagonists of ERC Junior like Czech Republic’s Filip Mares and Jan Hlousek on Skoda. Martins Seks from Latvia on Skoda and Harai Hiroki from Japan on Citroen C3 will also try to hunt for points in the Junior classification. The Italian Andrea Nucita and co-driver Bianca Alina Pop on Fiat Abarth 124 is currently on the ERC2 podium and fighting for the RGT title.
The top drivers of the Italian Rally Championship will also be present. Among these, the winners of race 1 at the Rally Italia Sardegna and 2018 winners Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai on Skoda Fabia R5 run by Team Loran. They are chased by Citroen Italia’s Luca Rossetti and Eleonora Mori that claimed four podiums, including those in the double appointment at Rally Italia Sardegna, on the C3 R5. Targa Florio’s winners Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton will try and hunt for the top strong with the latest updates on their Ford Fiesta R5 run by M-Sport. The Italian Andrea Crugnola and Pietro Ometto will also look for a strong outing on their Skoda Fabia that is currently 5th in the CIR classification. Umberto Scandola and Guido D’Amore are the protagonists of a new experience with Hyundai Motorsport Italia on the i20R5 that allowed them to get on the podium in Sardinia on their maiden rally. Peugeot’s official lineup Tommaso Ciuffi and Nicolò Gonella will get to Rome as 2WD classification leader on the 208 R2.
A lot of young drivers will be present in Rome and will contest the European and the Italian series on the 2WD R2 cars. The Norwegian Sindre Furuseth is leading the ERC 3 Junior classification thanks to three podiums, but the Spanish driver Efren Llarena is only 3 points shy thanks to the win in Portugal and the podium in the home rally on the Peugeot 208 R2. The Estonian driver Ken Torn, Ford Fiesta R2, won the two most recent events and is quite close to the top, followed by the Portuguese Pedro Antunes on Peugeot, while the Swede Elias Lundberg will be present on Opel Adam.
The 23 years old Marco Pollara is firmly on top of the Italian Rally Junior Championship thanks to three wins in the category with all the protagonists on Ford Fiesta R2b. The second place is currently held by Giuseppe Testa, who won race1 in Sardinia, but Mattia Vita, Andrea Mazzocchi and Pasquale Pucella will also try to slide in the fight for the top.
The third round of the Peugeot single-make reserved to the young drivers on the 208 R2B will see classification leader Davide Nicelli chased by Giorgio Cogni and Alessandro Nerobutto.
Images and videos from the presentation event of the rally and all information are available on www.rallydiromacapitale.it and on the renewed app app rallydiromacapitale downloadable from google play and apple store.
