The reigning Italian champion Crugnola was at the head of the field and would set the pace on the roads around Fiuggi with his Citroën C3 Rally2. He performed well there too, but Simone Tempestini, winner of the Rally of Hungary, made him work hard.

Since that opening round win, Tempestini – the only regular driver to win a round so far in 2024 – has been out of the picture, but he has returned to form with great success in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, briefly taking the lead from Crugnola after SS6.

Crongola’s pace ultimately proved too much for the rest, as he put his foot down on the gas pedal on the second day to take victory in 22.3 seconds over Simone Campedelli, who was repairing a broken intercom on Sunday afternoon. Tempestini dropped to fourth place behind 2022 ERC champion Efrén Llarena.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Crugnola.

“It was very difficult to control the race because I was thinking a lot about the Italian championship, because this race could be crucial for the future of our championship.”

Llarena’s weekend was a huge boost after a difficult run of late. The Spaniard, who skipped the previous round in Estonia, switched from MRF to Michelin rubber and took his first podium since last year’s Rally Islas Canarias.

“Very emotional, that’s for sure,” Llarena said. “It’s been a long, long, long time (since we were on the podium). Thanks to everyone who supports us in the bad times.”

Mathieu Franceschi reduced Hayden Paddon’s championship lead by finishing fifth, equalling Tempestini’s overall time but missing the countback.

Paddon started the weekend 10 points ahead of Franceschi in what was increasingly looking like a title battle, but was left behind by his Škoda rival, feeling he had squeezed the maximum out of his i20 N Rally2.

Franceschi beat Paddon, who is in sixth place, by just 6.1 seconds in total. More importantly, Franceschi beat Paddon on the power stage by just 0.2 seconds, reducing his lead in the series to seven points with three rounds to go (this does not include lost points).

“Frustrating weekend,” said Paddon. “We can be proud, we gave it everything. But I want to thank everyone at BRC, they’ve been very patient and I love working with everyone in that team.

“We hope to come back stronger.”

Boštjan Avbelj (Škoda) finished in a respectable seventh place overall, ahead of a trio of Italians: Roberto Daprà (Škoda), two-time Rally di Roma winner Giandomenico Basso (Toyota), whose weekend was somewhat spoiled by a puncture, and Andrea Mabellini (Škoda) who completed the top 10.

M-Sport driver Jon Armstrong indicated before the event that he wanted to finish third in this year’s championship, but he “struggled with the ultimate performance” and was unable to break into the top 20.

Armstrong’s weekend was completely ruined by a three-minute penalty for coming in early at a time control, but he was already outside the points and in 16th place overall.

Elsewhere, Stéphane Lefebvre was disqualified and fined €10,000 after his BMA-run Hyundai i20 N Rally2 was not correctly registered for road use after purchasing it from Hyundai Motorsport in Germany.

The Frenchman struggled to make an impression anyway, finishing 17th in what he described as “one of the toughest rallies I’ve ever driven”.

The ERC will resume in three weeks’ time during the Barum Rally Zlín from 16 to 18 August.