Last Updated on October 12, 2022 @ 22:30:05
Round 5 at Maggiora Offroad Arena on October 22/23
After a long break, the last round was held in July at Castelletto Circuit, the Italian Rallycross Championship will return in October and it will be a return "home": the last Round, the one that will award the titles, will in fact be held on October 22/23 at Maggiora Offroad Arena, the home of the Championship Promoter, Sport Club Maggiora.
It will be an electrifying two days because, having coefficient 2, the last scheduled race can completely overturn the rankings of the different categories.
The Maggiora Offroad Arena event will also be valid for the FIA CEZ (Central European Zone) Championship, which will certainly give an additional international and spectacular touch to the scheduled races.
RX5
It promises to be a very close race in what has now become the queen class of the Championship. The leader of the standings, GianMaria Gabbiani, who is on 120 points with his Skoda Fabia R5, and his first pursuer, Fabio Mezzatesta, who after the first races on Peugeot has also switched to the Skoda Fabia R5 and now finds himself with 108 points, will obviously be at the start. Watch out, however, for Gianmarco Donetto: the driver from Piedmont, on Skoda Fabia R5, has only taken part in the last two races but immediately proved to be extremely performant and has already collected 80 points; he will certainly come to the start with belligerent intentions, as will Stefano Avandero, who was second on his debut in Round 2 and is certainly eager to improve.
Supercar
Among the Supercars, Rosario Corallo and his Subaru Impreza, despite problems in the last round, still lead the standings with 90.5 points, ahead of Michele Andolina (Fiat Punto), who is stuck at 67. Both are expected to be at the start of the October round.
STC/Super 1600
Marco Valazza and his trusty Ford Fiesta chase the dream of regaining the title already won in 2017 and 2019 and lead the standings with 69 points. In his pursuit, with 48 points, is young Jenni Sonzogni, who has repeatedly put Valazza in trouble in the last two rounds. The needle of the scales, as far as the Italian championship is concerned, could paradoxically be the drivers who will compete with the goal of the FIA CEZ, starting with Jiri Susta (capable of winning the tricolor title, at only 17 years of age, in 2020), who leads the overall category standings with his Skoda Fabia. And again the young Czech Libor Tejes who comes to Maggiora with his Audi A1 with belligerent intentions, but also watch out for the Hungarian Janko Wiest with his Suzuki Swift Super1600.
STC
In STC-1600 Paolo Barbieri (Citroen C2) has a 16-point lead over Matteo Valazza (Citroen Saxo), a good gap but certainly not reassuring for "Popy," who will therefore have to race without making any calculations.
In STC-2000 a historic result could be looming: Arianna Corallo, currently leading the standings with 106.5 points, could be the first woman ever to win an Italian Rallycross title. But she will have to reckon with Marco Nicolini, who is chasing her closely with 103.75 points and who has shown that when his Peugeot 205 has no problems, he is very fast indeed.
On the other hand, he will be eager to make up for his many problems in Round 4, the Czech champion Roman Castoral, who will also be at the start for FIA CEZ points, as will compatriot Jakub Michal, currently third in the standings in his Peugeot 206.
In this category there is to record the debut of young Ermes Mapi, at the wheel of a Renault Clio.
Instead, the 2021 champion Alberto Palestrini should have no problem confirming himself in the STC+2000 category.
Kartcross
Round 4 definitely shuffled the cards and now leading the standings is Riccardo Canzian (Speedcar Xtreme) with 184 points. But tricampeon Marcello Gallo (Lifelive TN5) is just 2.5 points behind, and after the unfortunate Castelletto round he will definitely want to take back the win and title. Sornioni, the two Grieco brothers, Nicolò and Matteo, are at 161.5 and 148 points respectively with their GMNs and will surely be ready to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself.
Drivers who have already confirmed in this category include the newly crowned European Rallycross Champion in Super 1600, at only 17 years old the youngest European champion in history, Belgian Kobe Pauwels.
RX Under 18
In this special ranking, Valentino Ledda (Ya-Car) seems to have no rivals who has 124 points: the two closest rivals are Marcus Antonio Martinelli (GMN) and Matteo Bernini (KC) 65.5 and 65 points respectively.
The programme
On Saturday, October 22, the Paddock will open at 8 a.m.; Scrutineering will start at 9 a.m. and from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. there will be free practice; Q1 will start at 4 p.m.
On Sunday, October 23, Warm Up will begin at 8:30 am, then at 9 am Q2, at 10:30 am Q3, at 1:30 pm Q4, at 3 pm Semifinals and at 4 pm Finals.
On Saturday admission will be free, while on Sunday the cost will be only 10 € including consummation; for residents in the municipality of Maggiora admission will still be free.
In short, there are really all the ingredients for an unforgettable weekend!