VENI, VIDI, VICI FOR ALPINE IN ROME

Co-leaders of the FIA R-GT Cup after theirrespective wins on Rallye Monte-Carlo and Rally Islas Canarias, Raphaël Astierand Manu Guigou once again carried the hopes of the A-arrow brand at roundthree of the calendar in Italy.

In the opening special stage around theColosseum, a new duel at the sharp end between the two Alpine A110 Rally carsbegan. RaphaëlAstier took the lead on Friday evening, but Manu Guigou replied the followingmorning with an exceptional drive on Roccasecca - Colle San Magno. TheFrench driver set the third best time overall, only six-tenths of a secondbehind a four-time Italian and two-time European champion entered with a four-wheel-drivecar.

However, the rally changed in the followingtimed sector when Manu Guigou crashed and Raphaël Astier inherited the top spotwith a 40.4s lead. The CHL Sport Auto driver set the best time on all the remainingstages on Saturday to extend his advantage to over four minutes.

With this comfortable margin, the 2018 FIA R-GTCup winner showed no signs of letting up as he continued the dominance of theAlpine A110 Rally in the category with three more scratches in as many stagesin the morning before repeating the feat in the afternoon. Raphaël Astierfinally won by more than ten minutes over the Abarth of Italian Roberto Gobbin.The triumph on Italian soil is the ninth in a row for Alpine in the FIA R-GTCup and Raphaël Astier now enjoys a comfortable lead in the generalclassification, which is still dominated by the A110 Rallys.

At the next round, the Barum Czech Rally Zlín,Alpine can secure its second consecutive FIA R-GT Cup title after PierreRagues' crown last year. The Czech event will host the fourth andpenultimate round of the calendar on 27-28 August.

Raphaël Astier

"It was a good rallyoverall, even though I would have preferred to have fought a little longer withmy direct competitor to prove what I can do against him. Sadly the ups anddowns of rallying are what they are, and this can happen to anyone. It's ashame because we had a less than ideal tyre choice on the Saturday morningloop, and we couldn't really compare ourselves to him with the same tyres. OnceI was in the lead, I managed my advantage, but we had to be careful on thisvery tricky route, especially on the two longest stages, which could have hurtthe machinery, particularly the brakes and tyres. Wetook it easy to bring it home while working on our set-up. We had fun andscored a lot of points so that’s a good weekend overall. I was delighted withthe performance of the Alpine this weekend, and we will now work hard to besure to be at the start of the Barum, where we will have to stay smart and doeverything right."

CLASSIFICATIONS

Rally di Roma Capitale 2022

1. Raphaël Astier - Frédéric Vauclare (Alpine A110 Rally) 1h56:18.5s

2. Roberto Gobbin - Ismaele Barra (Abarth 124 Rally) +10:35.7s

DNF. Manu Guigou - Kévin Bronner (Alpine A110Rally)

2022 FIA R-GT Cup

1. Raphaël Astier 68 points

2. Manu Guigou 43 points

3. Roberto Gobbin 26 points

4. François Delecour 15 points

5. Christophe Casanova 12 points

6. Martin Rada 10 points

7. Ian Crerar 6 points…

ABOUT ALPINE

Founded in 1955 by Jean Rédélé, the brand has set itself apart with itsFrench-style sports cars. In 2018, the brand presented the new A110, a sportscar faithful to Alpine's timeless principles of compactness, lightness, agilityand driving pleasure. The Alpine Business Unit was created in 2021 and thusbecame the brand dedicated to innovative, authentic, exclusive sportscars ofthe Renault Group, benefiting from the heritage and craftsmanship of itshistoric plant in Dieppe and the Alpine Racing and Alpine Cars teamsengineering mastery.