Safely through the first stage with an eye on the 6 Saturday stages
Rally di Roma Capitale got underway today (23 July) in spectacular fashion with Team MRF Tyres drivers showing well in front of an excited crowd.
The Special Show Stage officially got the rally underway with a 2.72km blast through the streets of Rome, passing many of the world’s best-known historical sites.
It was a stage to consolidate the times before the six Saturday stages.
Craig Breen and Paul Nagle were immediately competitive through the streets in their Hyundai i20 R5, setting the sixth-fastest time of 1:54.8.
Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton preferred to concentrate on the Saturday running and wanted to be sure to bring their Volkswagen Polo R5 unscathed.
Earlier in the day, the teams tackled the qualifying stage which would set the running order for the rally.
Breen and Nagle set a time of 2:11.102 which was the 12th fastest time and allowed him to choose his starting spot at the ceremonial start in Rome.
He will be the 11th car on the road for the rally.
Meanwhile, Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton experienced a problem on the first corner and turned their attention to maximising their potential for the six stages on Saturday which will offer an ideal chance to gain data and show their pace.
The Saturday action will see 64.18km of competitive action across six stages. The first stage of the day, Rocca di Cave 1 gets underway at 9:53am local time or 1:23pm if you are in India.
Stage four will be streamed live on the FIA ERC Facebook and YouTube pages and SS2, 3, 4 and 6 will feature live radio.
Quotes
Craig Breen, Hyundai i20 R5
“I pushed in the qualifying stage this morning and we got a good time. This evening it was great to be in the Team MRF Tyres car on the streets of Rome. There were plenty of people out watching and it was a lovely stage.”
Simone Campedelli, VW Polo R5
“I have really good memories at Rally di Roma Capitale. The level of the ERC gets better and better every year. For us, we are here to develop the MRF Tyres. They show a really high pace in gravel and we have done a good job to be competitive and I am looking forward to tomorrow’s stages.”