Heading into Sunday’s six tricky Tarmac stages, Crugnola holds a narrow advantage over two-time ERC champion and fellow Pirelli runner Giandomenico Basso, while Michelin-shod Miko Marczyk is third, 8.7sec down on Crugnola.
But after an off-form run through Saturday’s deciding stage, Crugnola conceded there’s room for improvement. The Citroën C3 Rally2 driver said: “If I lost time it is because my driving wasn’t enough. I have to understand why and work on myself for tomorrow as the lead is quite tight and we have to be perfect.”
After sharing the fastest time with Basso on SS2 to take the lead, Marczyk stretched his advantage to 2.6sec with the fastest time through the first run of Torre di Cicerone, the longest of the season at 34.57 kilometres, despite a moment on a right-hander. But an overshoot on SS4 dropped him to fourth, 1.3sec off first place at the midday service halt in Fiuggi.
“It was a good day,” said Marczyk, who, like Basso, is armed with a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. “Last year it was hard to get to the top 10 times and now we are at the speed of the Italian guys. We will see what are the possibilities for tomorrow but it is good we are here in one piece. It was not a day without action.”
Mabellini ended Saturday sitting fourth in the battle for victory
© ERC
Andrea Mabellini, running first on the road, had been ahead of Marczyk but dropped to fourth on SS6 after he went 14.1sec slower than stage winner Crugnola. “I don’t know what happened, I was trying not to overheat the tyre,” Mabellini said following the second pass of Torre di Cicerone. “It seems like they did not overheat because I was slow.”
Having banked his maiden fastest ERC stage time on SS5, Roberto Daprà demoted Mads Østberg for sixth place on Saturday’s deciding run, which he also won to underline a strong performance from the WRC2 event winner. The 2023 ERC4 champion is 15.0sec adrift of first place but could have been closer to the lead had he not spun on today’s second stage.
“Unluckily we spun in SS3, we did a really stupid mistake with the handbrake in a junction left,” Daprà said. “I was trying to push more but I think it was too much. Without the spin, we are talking eight or nine seconds, we could have been closer [to the lead].”
For Østberg, simply starting Rally di Roma Capitale represented a significant achievement after a crash on last year’s event left his then co-driver Patrik Barth with injuries that ultimately forced his retirement from competing. The Norwegian is less than 20 seconds off the lead after a fine drive by the Norwegian.
Østberg enjoyed a strong day to remain in the fight for the win
© ERC
Boštjan Avbelj started Saturday’s opening stage leading by 0.4sec after he won Friday evening’s super special stage in front of the Colosseum in Rome. He’s seventh overnight followed by Simone Campedelli and 2022 ERC champion Efrén Llarena with Czech champion Dominik Stříteský rounding out the top 10.
Simone Tempestini, a winner of the Romanian championship on nine occasions, is 11th, one place ahead of four-time Hungarian title winner Norbert Herczig, who driving his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 on Tarmac for the first time.
Marco Signor is 13th with Jon Armstrong battling set-up issues to hold 14th. Fabio Andolfi, who was delayed by a damaged front-right tyre on SS4, completes the top 15 followed by Roope Korhonen on his first start on asphalt for Team MRF Tyres.
Hankook-shod Junior ERC champion Mille Johansson reported handling issues and is 18th overnight with Roberto Blach 17th. WRC2 frontrunner Jan Solans is 21st behind Jarosław Kołtun and Antonio Rusce, who is second to Basso in the Master ERC order.
It proved to be challenging day for Max McRae which ended prematurely when he rolled in stage six. Driver and co-driver Cameron Fair emerged from the incident unscathed.
Rally di Roma Capitale concludes tomorrow (Sunday) with a further six stages over a competitive distance of 98.34 kilometres. The 11.58-kilometre Guarcino – Altipiani stage is up first from 08:25 local time.