In the Italian Rally di Roma Capitale, which takes place about 40 km east of Rome, 96 crews started. The race is part of the European Rally Championship.
Competitors drove 13 speed stages, the longest of which is 21.17 km long and the entire race distance is 190 km.
On the first day of the race, the surprise was presented by Andrea Crugnola / Pietro Elia Ometto, Hyundai i20 (Hyundai Rally Team Italia), who led with 5.4 seconds ahead of Giandomenico Basso / Lorenzo Granai (Skoda Fabia Evo / Movisport) and European champions for 2020 Alexey Lukyanuk / Alexey Arnautov Citroen C3 (Sainteloc Junior Team) with a lag of 21.8 seconds. The Russians started the battle quite cautiously, betting on safe driving.
The Italian rally has a very strong competition, among them Andreas Mikkelsen / Ola Fløene, who despite their efforts and changes in settings failed to break up in the standings, finishing 17th in the general classification. Mickelsen hit a rock on the road in speed stage 2, where there were problems with the suspension.
In the 9th speed stage Santopadre - Arpino 1 the longest stage the Russians Alexey Lukyanuk / Alexey Arnautov had an accident and left the race. The crew is fine, no casualties. Some pilots described the stage as very difficult and with a much different asphalt than the others.
Andrea Crugnola / Pietro Elia had a flat tire in the second stage for Sunday after hitting a stone that was not in the notes and losing more than half a minute. Were it not for this loss with the flat tire, their position at the top would have been difficult for Basso to take.
Very strong performance of the Romanian crew Simone Tempestini / Itu Sergiu with Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, who won the penultimate stage and reached the 7th place in the general classification.
The winners were Giandomenico Basso / Lorenzo Granai (Skoda Fabia Evo / Movisport), who in the last stages bet on safe driving with a total time of 1: 54: 06.6. The 47-year-old Basso is well known in Bulgaria for his regular appearances at Rally Bulgaria in previous years. Andrea Crugnola / Pietro Elia Ometto, Hyundai i20 (Hyundai Rally Team Italia) kept the second place with a lag of 35.8 seconds.
Hungarians Norbert Herczig / Ramón Ferencz with Skoda Fabia Evo took the last place on the podium, making one of the best achievements in their career after a lot of hard work and perseverance. They were 40.4 seconds behind and only 4.6 seconds separated them from second place.