Rome: Crugnola doubles the lead, Franceschi 4th

Fifth round of theERC 2024, the rally from Rome offered a very friendly first step. It led to a situation with 6 competitors in 9”2. So everything was open for Sunday. Six special stages were on the program for a total of 93,66 km timed.

Leader with a tiny margin of 0”7 last night, Andrea Crugnola didn’t give anyone a chance for victory. Author of most of the best times, he widened a decisive gap which allowed him to win for the second consecutive time in this event. At the wheel of his Citroën C3 Rally2, the reigning double Italian champion also performed well in the national competition. With Roma Capitale having a coef of 1,5, Crugnola makes a gap on his rivals Simone Campedelli and Giandomenico Basso. The first city managed to climb to 2^e rank. He is ahead of Efren Llarena who had not shown such a pace for several months.

Winner of qualifying on Friday, Mathieu Franceschi started in the lead throughout the first day. Increasing the pace as his sensations improved, he finished Saturday at 4^e rank with only 2”1 behind 3^e. His Sunday was less brilliant. Not happy with his performances, he saw the podium candidates moving away while Efren Llarena was getting closer. The Spaniard ended up passing it with a final stage. 4^e for his second participation in this event, Mathieu was satisfied to beat Hayden Paddon who is his most serious rival in the championship. With this result, Franceschi returned to 7 points behind the New Zealander with still 3 races to go.

Final ranking