Sat 25 Jan 2025

ERC 2024 rally recap: When Crugnola clinched second Roma win

The 2025 FIA European Rally Championship bursts into action with the 42nd Rally Sierra Morena - Córdoba Patrimonio de la Humanidad from 4 - 6 April. Ahead of the all-new Tarmac event staging the first of eight unmissable ERC rounds during the upcoming season, here’s a reminder of what happened when Rally di Roma Capitale took place last July.

The winners: Home hero Andrea Crugnola became a two-time winner of his home round of the ERC after he claimed victory by 22.3sec.  


With Pietro Ometto co-driving his Citroën C3 Rally2, Pirelli-equipped Crugnola repeated his breakthrough Rally di Roma Capitale triumph of 12 months previously on the back of a faultless performance in the scorching Italian sunshine.   


Despite an intercom issue, Simone Campedelli finished second driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 on Pirelli tyres with Efrén Llarena third on his maiden outing in a Michelin-shod Fabia RS Rally2.  


But it was close as 9.1sec separated the top six after leg two’s opening stage, while Simone Tempestini finished 4.2sec behind Llarena in fourth and equal on time with fifth-placed Mathieu Franceschi on what was Tempestini’s first outing on asphalt aboard his Michelin-equipped Fabia RS Rally2.

How did it feel? “It’s an amazing feeling,” said Crugnola (above), who also won the Power Stage for good measure. “It was very tough to control the race because I was thinking a lot to the Italian championship and this race can be crucial for the future. We score very good points and I would like to say thanks to Pietro, because he did an amazing job, and to the team, F.P.F. Sport, Pirelli, Sparco, all the sponsors and all the people who are close to us and helping us to be here. We increased the lead this morning, which was our goal, we had some margin in some places which also gave us some more confidence for the last loop. We could improve the set-up but we needed to stay focused.”  


Turning point: Crugnola left the overnight halt in Fiuggi leading Tempestini (below) by 0.7sec and edged a further 0.1sec ahead with the second fastest time through SS8. With SS9 red-flagged following an accident for Mads Østberg (see below), Crugnola had to wait until SS10 to make further progress and he was in front by 11.0sec at midday service. He grew his advantage to 12.6sec by winning SS11 before he went into overdrive on SS12, going a 7.0sec faster than his closest challenger to take a lead of 20.4sec into the Power Stage.

Comeback man: Efrén Llarena said he was happy to be back “in the fight” after completed the podium alongside co-driver Sara Fernández, the Spaniards’ first ERC podium since May 2023.  


Shining through: Giorgio Cogni (below) charged to a dominant maiden FIA ERC4 victory on his return to the championship after two seasons away. The 28-year-old Italian beat Hungarian and fellow Pirelli-equipped Peugeot 208 Rally2 driver Márton Bertalan by a commanding margin of 2min 21.9sec as Michael Rendina completed the podium in a Pirelli-shod Renault Clio Rally4. Cogni’s path to victory was eased when Gianandrea Pisani, who who’d battle for first place throughout leg one before he was slowed by a damaged tyre on SS7, crashed out 1.7km from the start of leg two’s opening stage.  


Filip Kohn made it a hat-trick of FIA ERC3 victories with a controlled performance and a winning margin of 1min 49.7sec. The Czech, who also took top points in the Fiesta Rally3 Trophy, led the Rally3-based category from start to finish.

Early setback: Having been hampered by a pop-off valve issue during the opening morning, Mads Østberg’s Rally di Roma Capitale debut ended abruptly early on leg two when he and co-driver Patrik Barth crashed heavily 21.8 kilometres from the start of SS9.   


Table topper: Defending ERC champion Hayden Paddon completed the top six aboard his Pirelli-shod Hyundai i20 N Rally2 to maintain his narrow title advantage over fifth-placed Mathieu Franceschi.  


What’s next? Visit FIAERC.com tomorrow (Sunday) for the Barum Czech Rally Zlín recap.

Sweden
Starts: Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 8:00:00 AM
Spain
Starts: Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 7:00:00 AM
Turkey
Starts: Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 8:30:00 AM