Excitement, learning and action will be among the watchwords when the FIA European Rally Championship heads to Italy next week for Rally di Roma Capitale (20-22 July). The all-asphalt contest, which starts in the historic city and features challenging stages within Rome and to the southeast, not only marks the start of the second half of the season but it also signals the resumption of the two ERC Junior championships with 20 rising talents continuing their high-speed rallying curriculum.
RALLY DI ROMA CAPITALE IN NUMBERS:
2013: The progression of this exciting asphalt event, organised and promoted by Motorsport Italia, has been remarkable. Having run for the first time in 2013, Rally di Roma Capitale made its ERC debut in 2017 as Italy returned to the ERC for the first time since 2013 when Rallye Sanremo was on the calendar.
205.97: This year’s Rally di Roma Capitale features 15 stages over a competitive distance of 205.97 kilometres. It starts and finishes with two superspecials in Rome – in the EUR district on Friday 20 July and in Ostia on Sunday 22 July.
11.50: Following the ceremonial start at the Castel Saint’Angelo, drivers will head off in groups of 10 for a motorised tour of some of Rome’s most famous landmarks. Following a police escort they will pass several sites including the Piazza Venezia, Colosseo, Circo Massimo and the Terme di Caracalla before arriving at the Piazza Barcellona in readiness for the opening stage, the ACI Roma Arena test, from 18h30 local time on Friday 20 July.
32: Of the 71 drivers on the entry list, 32 will compete in top-of-the-range R5 cars, while 20 drivers from the ERC Junior Under 27 and Under 28 Championships are set to take part.
FAST FACTS
*Rome’s famous Colosseum, which features on the Roma parade route, is the largest amphitheatre ever built. Construction began in AD 72 and was completed in AD 80.
*The commune of event base Fiuggi, to the southeast of central Rome, was made famous by its natural spring water and the healing powers it possesses.
*Rome is one of two European capitals hosting ERC action this season with Nicosia home to a stage of the Cyprus Rally last month.
*Italy has celebrated 23 European championship triumphs over the years. Giandomenico Basso and Luca Rossetti are both three-time winners.
*The Pico section of the Pico-Greci stage, used twice on Saturday 21 July, is Rally di Roma Capitale’s version of the Monaco Grand Prix with thousands of fans lining what is effectively a street circuit through the village of Pico.
ERC1: Lukyanuk playing catch-up in title chase
Russian Rocket Alexey Lukyanuk is playing catch-up when the ERC heads to Rome for the second time next week. After dominating the season-opening events in the Azores and Gran Canaria, Lukyanuk failed to go the distance in Greece and Cyprus in his Russian Performance Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5.
His difficult run has handed Bruno Magalhães the title initiative with the Portuguese 15 points in front following a win and a second place from the last two events. Cyprus Rally winner and national champion Simos Galatariotis is continuing his ERC adventure with his Roma debut where he will come up against, among others, former Polish champions Grzegorz Grzyb (Rufa Sport) and Łukasz Habaj (Rallytechnology), Toksport’s Turkish charge Orhan Avcioǧlu and Germany’s Albert von Thurn und Taxis (Baumschlager Rallye & Racing). Juuso Nordgren, the rising Finnish star backed by ŠKODA Motorsport, continues to use the ERC to build his experience of international competition having won stages on the last two events.
A legion of Italian championship stars will also be in action and firmly in contention for ERC points. They include multiple national title-winner Paolo Andreucci, his long-term adversaries Simone Campedelli and Umberto Scandola, plus double European champion Giandomenico Basso, whose participation has been made possible after his manager at Movisport, Zelindo Melegari, withdrew his own entry in the ERC2 category. Campedelli (onece) and Scandola (twice) are former Rally di Roma Capitale winners. Marco Pollara, meanwhile, partners Andreucci in the PEUGEOT 208 T16-powered FPF Sport line-up.
Source: Rally-info.com