The second and final day of the Piedmont Region Rally, the second round of the 2024 Italian Absolute Rally Championship, opened with two special stages, PS4 and PS5, which at least partially revolutionized the top levels of the general classification of the event.
In the 11.95 kilometer SS4 Diano d'Alba 1 Andrea Nucita was involved in a spectacular accident which took him out of the race. The Sicilian, at the wheel of a Hyundai i20 N Rally2, was in third place in the general classification before making a mistake that led him to go off the road.
Shortly after a jump, Nucita landed already inside the next right-hand curve and, therefore, too close to the hill that bordered the road. His Hyundai climbed onto the mound of earth, then began to roll over onto the road, finishing its evolution on the other side of the curve.
Fortunately, both Andrea Nucita and his co-driver Rudy Pollet emerged unscathed from the crash, but they had to say goodbye to their concrete chances of a podium.
What was a trio for victory turned into a duel between CIAR veterans. Andrea Crugnola and Giandomenico Basso shared the two tests of today's first lap, with the Toyota driver from Veneto winning SS4, reducing his gap from Crugnola to 8 tenths.
However, the reigning Italian champion responded in kind in the following test, the 14.56 kilometer PS5 Cossano – Treiso, trailing the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 of Basso and Granai by 5 seconds. This means that between the two crews fighting for the victory there is a 5″8 margin in favor of the one fielded by FPF Sport on a Citroen C3 Rally2.
With Nucita's retirement following the PS4 accident, Stéphane Lefebvre moved up to third place in the second Citroen C3 Rally2 in the race, although already almost 15 seconds behind Crugnola. The fight for third place is still open, because Bostjan Avbelj is third, 4.5 seconds behind the Frenchman and Simone Campedelli is just over 6 seconds away in the first Skoda Fabia.
#CIAR #Rally #Piemonte #PS45 #Nucita #crash #Crugnola #lengthens
