Roared on by thousands of fans, Avbelj took 56.2sec to complete the 1.30-kilometre Colosseo ACI Roma test in his Pirelli-equipped Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Andrea Mabellini was second fastest, 0.4sec behind surprise early pacesetter Avbelj with MRF-shod Simone Tempestini third. Andrea Crugnola, who is chasing a hat-trick of wins on his home round of the FIA European Rally Championship, shared the fourth quickest time with Simone Campedelli.
“I was pushing very hard but it is the Power Stage for the Italian championship so it was important,” the Italian-domiciled Slovenian said. “I’m happy with the result.”
Mabellini, who earlier won the Qualifying Stage with his commemorative roof livery, said: “Tomorrow we start first on the rand so we can sleep a little bit less than the others tonight and that is the most important thing. For the rest it will be nice. How beautiful is my roof with the Colosseum on it. I think we will have great pictures tonight.”
Tempestini said: “Half a second is let’s say some time when the stage is less than one minute. We had a clean run. I did a little mistake, I tried to do a perfect stage but it was not like that. It is a pleasure to be here and race so close to the Colosseum. I think this is something that helps our sport, so big congrats to the people organising this rally.”
Behind sixth-placed Roberto Daprà, Michelin’s ERC points leader Miko Marczyk was seventh, Mads Østberg eighth followed by Dominik Stříteský with Norbert Herczig and Giandomenico Basso equal 10th best.
Jon Armstrong, Simon Wagner, Fabio Andolfi and Marco Signor round out the top 15.
Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta Rally3 driver Adrian Rzeźnik beat Hubert Kowalczyk to the fastest time in the FIA ERC3 category, while Tuukka Kauppinen set the FIA Junior ERC pace in his Hankook-equipped Lancia Ypsilon Rally4 HF.
Rally di Roma Capitale resumes tomorrow (Saturday) with the 6.47-kilometre Collepardo Pozzo d’Antullo stage from 08:30 local time.