The list of participants for the 55th Rally del Salento has been unveiled, with all the big names in the Italian Asphalt Rally Championship present.

Nineteen, between Wrc and R5, will compete on the roads of the Italian Heel, Friday 26 and Saturday 27 May, at the 55th Rally del Salento, the second act of the Italian Asphalt Rally Championship.

The entries for the race organized by the Automobile Club of Lecce have been revealed, there will be a total of 48 modern and 8 historic cars. The big names of the tricolor series reserved for the asphalt surface specialists were all there.

Apulia and the region of Lecce await what represents the pinnacle of road racing events: the Salento Rally. There is great interest in the event organized by the Lecce Automobile Club, which is now in its fifty-fifth edition which, since 2018, has been held in conjunction with the Historic Meeting and is scheduled for next weekend. The yeast that has been translated into a list of high-quality participants: 48 hosts have been called to compete for the modern meeting, 8 for the historical one for a total of 56 participants. A total number that does not fail to show the value that this event has been able to create in its long history.

A list that counts on the top 19 cars, almost all brought to the race by the best professionals in the national arena, who will be able to win points for the Italian Asphalt Rally Championship by being able to rely on the 1.5 coefficient.

Therefore, 40% of the members are represented by the cars of the workers called to compete for full success, 3 are WRC class cars and the remaining 16 are all part of the R5/Rally2 class which has now reached the same level. competitive, if not better than the former world championship queen.

Very interesting cars and loud names will characterize this second round of the Asphalt tricolor which will see the current leader of the championship as well as the winner of the 2018 race, Stefano Albertini from Brescia at the start and the number 1 who, partnering with Danilo Fappani on a Skoda Fabia Evo Rally2 will go in search, after Verona, of the second seal of the season in the series, a result that will allow him to be able to expand in the standings. To distinguish the intention of the two-time winner of the series and the original CIWRC acronym, there will be, in a similar car, the one who chases him for a short distance in the fight for the championship, with a stick. of the race and of the championship, Simone Campedelli born in Romagna who, assisted by Tania Canton, will aim to get better results, also due to the positive contribution made by MRF tires in the 2022 edition. The three-time European champion, winner of the race in 2007, the Friulian Luca Rossetti will also go in search of full success in the cockpit with Eleonora Mori, the current third team of the championship at the start of the Hyundai i20 N. The two most famous names present in the WRC Class, who are already winners, decided to start season well starting in Salento after their previous absence in the Veneto region in the race with the CIWRC: Corrado Fontana and Luca Pederoli, respectively competing in the Hyundai NG i20 and Nicola Arena. on the note and in a Citroen Ds3 with Corrado Bonato in the right seat.

Giuseppe Testa from Molise with Gino Abatecola in a Skoda Fabia is also ready to attack the top of the Verona standings with Corrado Pinzano from Biella and Mauro Turati in a Citroen C3, third overall in Salento last year. The performance of the large group remaining in the race in the Skoda Fabia should also be followed carefully, starting with Paolo Menegatti from Vicenza at the start and Nicola Rutigliano who returns to Puglia a few years after a good performance that saw him among the main characters. of the fight between the two-wheelers and the handlers, in the area of ​​Lecce, Rudy Andriolo from Treviso led by Manuel Menegon and Paolo Nodari from Vicenza, from the match with his son Giulio. High attention will also be paid to Giuseppe Bergantino born in Foggia who, for the first time teaming up with Andrea Colapietro, will have a lot of Zona Rally Cup points and who, thanks to his undeniable speed skills. , he could quietly enter the struggle for the noble positions of perfection. CRZ purpose also for Ceccanese Stefano Liburdi, and Mattia Cipriani on Hyundai i 20 N, who also decided to redeem the poor performance of last year and for Molise Riccardo Di Iuorio, and Cristian Quarta on Citroen C3, comforted by the good traditional performance there. City of Casarano Rally. Among the Over 55s, the battle between Giovanni Galleni from Livorno and Luca Ambrogi in the Citroen C3 and the two Larians Luigi Fontana and Giovanni Agnese in the Hyundai Ng i20 WRC and Pietro Porro and Alberto Contini in the Toyota Yaris N5 Nazionale. To complete the picture of the top cars there will be the remaining Skoda Fabias of Riccardo Pisacane and Gianmarco Potera, of Tommaso Memmi and Maurizio Iacobelli, of Antonio Forte and Pasquale Fiorito and Peugeot 208 T16 of Mauro Santantonio and Danilo Memmi. In S1600, a two-way battle between the Renault Clios of Ludwig Zigliani and the current leader of the category trophy in the CRZ Marco Dell’Elce. The first match in the Renault New Clio Sport R3 for Andrea Pisacane who will wear the underdogs in the match between the Under 25s, the young Leccese will have to face Pierluigi Di Vito. To follow the comparison in the Rally4 class between Gianluca Saresera, Mattia Mele, Mauro Adamuccio and Fernando De Rosa, all on Peugeot 208, between Rally4/R2 rather an open challenge between the same cars, but in the Vti version, of Antonio Dino Palma. , second in the CRZ category trophy with Francesco Marotta returning to rallying. In N3, with two Renault Clio Rs, Michele Campagna, the holder of the Zone Cup title, and Michele Serafini will be ready to fight. In K10 on Peugeot 106 there will be Francesco Casto and in A6, on Opel Corsa, the title holder in CRZ Luca Finguerra. In N2 the famous name will be that of Paolo Garzia, racing with Peugeot 106, in A0 instead in Fiat Seicento we will see the return to racing of Rudi Costa who will celebrate his fiftieth birthday the day before the race. As for Racing Start Plus, the comparison between Mauro Leo on a Peugeot 208 and Marco De Mitri on a BMW Mini Cooper among the supercharged up to 1.6 will follow, while Nunzio Fanelli on the Abarth 500 is among the 1.4s. it will be Daniele Ferilli on Citroen Saxo and between 1.4 Antonio Branca on Peugeot 106. Finally in the RS16 comparison to follow between Gianfranco Manco on Peugeot 106 and Vincenzo Crisigiovanni on Citroen Saxo.

As mentioned, there will be 8 candidates for the 5th Historic Salento Championship, valid as the second round of the 4th Regional 4th Championship, and Marco De Marco from Lecce has decided to register his name in the golden register of the race of the third, he will be at the start in the Group A BMW M3 of Group 4. Alessandro Russo from Palermo will be at the start in the Porsche 911 SC of Group Three. Also worth following is the race of another driver from Lecce Fioravante Totisco in the Group 4 Opel Manta 400 and of two other drivers from Palermo at the start in the Opel Kadett Gsi also from Group 4 Sergio Palazzolo and Mario Avara, eager for redemption after the disappointment of the reason for his retirement from the Targa Florio Championship.

All information about the race and a complete list of participants www.rallydelsalento.eu

Photo (by Massimo Bettiol): Rally del Salento 2022 edition: race winners Simone Campedelli and GianFrancesco Rappa on the Skoda Fabia Evo R5.gius

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