NAPLES – The Apulian duo of Francesco Rizzello and Cristian Quarta, driver and co-driver respectively, won the 12th edition of the Rally del Matese – Memorial Peppino Picariello, a competition counting towards the CRZ (Zone Rally Cup). Aboard their Skoda Fabia R5, they topped the standings with a time of 45'01.4 in the 10 timed trials. Driver Riccardo Di Iuorio, who triumphed on the Matese in the last edition, and co-driver Gino Abatecola, winner in 2023, finished second. They finished 41.8 seconds behind the leaders. Professionals Carmine Tribuzio and Mattia Cipriani finished third with a time of 47'12.2 seconds. After the show stage, which took place in the town centre of Piedimonte Matese, there were 9 special stages, all located in the municipalities of Alife, San Potito Sannitico and Gioia Sannitica.
There were plenty of tense moments starting on Saturday afternoon, when a serious accident occurred during the shakedown, a proper pre-race test of the racing cars. The car was only seriously damaged, and the team repaired it within two hours, while the driver and co-driver were unharmed. The Matese crew completed all the tests, placing sixth overall. Two further accidents during the penultimate test disrupted this edition, but everything was conducted with the utmost safety in mind. The drivers and co-drivers were unanimous in their appreciation of the beauty of the chosen routes, with special praise for the ASD New Matese MotorSport, the event's organizers.
