Alberto Battistolli and Simone Scattolin won the twentieth edition of the Campagnolo Historic Rally , the sixth round of the 2026 Italian Historic Car Rally Championship .
The crew from Vicenza took the Lancia Delta HF Integrale prepared by K-Sport and fielded by Team Bassano to success, also taking first place in the 4th Group classification .
For Battistolli, competing this season in the Italian Gravel Rally Championship, this was a successful return to classic cars and his home race. He had already triumphed at the Campagnolo in 2019, driving a Lancia Rally 037.
Battistolli sets the pace
The victory came at the end of a hard-fought race, in which Battistolli and Scattolin were able to maintain a constant pace and limit errors.
The main contenders for the win were Matteo Luise and Melissa Ferro , competing in the BMW M3. However, an error in the early stages and a penalty for jumping the start on the seventh special stage affected their performance, preventing the battle for first place from developing fully.
Luise finished the race in third position, after being overtaken in the last special stage by Andrea Smiderle and Gianni Marchi .
Smiderle takes second place in the final
At the wheel of the Subaru Legacy , Smiderle and Marchi drove a consistently improving performance. The crew tackled the final special stage aiming for second place, managing to overtake Luise by just 2.4 seconds.
The podium was thus entirely occupied by cars from the 4th Group and by crews from Team Bassano , a result that further strengthens the position of the Venetian team in the seasonal standings.
Battistolli and Scattolin finished with a total time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 30.8 seconds , ahead of Smiderle and Marchi by 35.7 seconds and Luise and Ferro by 38.1.
Tezza at the foot of the podium
Fourth place overall went to Denis Tezza and Massimo Merzari , who drove a consistent race in the BMW M3.
Despite being more than three minutes behind the leader, the Veronese crew avoided errors and technical problems, making up for the retirement they suffered in the previous edition.
Fifth place went to German Jurgen Geist , alongside Czech navigator Josef Kral in a BMW M3, followed by Giovanni Mori and Michele Frosini , also at the wheel of the Bavarian car.
The Renault 5 GT Turbo of Cristian Gilardoni and Angela Diener finished in seventh place.
Delle Coste wins the 2nd Group
Eighth place overall allowed Luca Delle Coste and Giuliano Santi to take victory in Group 2 with the Rally & Co. Ford Escort RS MKI.
The victory came after the retirement of Alberto Salvini and Davide Tagliaferri , who were occupying fourth position overall and were authoritatively leading the group before being stopped by a problem with the Porsche 911 RS during the transfer to the seventh stage.
The top ten was completed by Sandro Costaganna and Matteo Rizzi , ninth in the Lancia Delta Integrale, and by Giorgio Costenaro and Roberta Barbieri , tenth in the Ford Sierra Cosworth.
A race marked by retirements
Numerous technical problems affected the Vicenza event.
The winners of the 2025 edition, Adriano Lovisetto and Cristian Cracco , had to abandon the race on the fifth special stage due to a failure of their BMW M3.
Davide Negri and Marco Zegna also retired , stopped by mechanical problems with the Porsche 911 RS, and Enrico Volpato and Samuele Sordelli , unable to reach the first stage after the Ford Escort RS MKII stopped during the transfer.
The Ford Sierra Cosworth of Gabriele Rossi and Fabrizio Handel was slowed down by electrical problems in the opening stage, before finally retiring.
Lanfranchini and Smithson win in their respective groups
In the 3rd Group, victory went to Simone Lanfranchini and Alessandro Merlo , protagonists with the Rally & Co Porsche 924 GTS and classified just outside the top ten overall.
Group 1 was won by Trevor Smithson and Christian Soriani , who took their Lotus Elan 26/R to the finish line.
Among the Classic cars, Riccardo Mariotti and Giuseppe Tricoli took the lead , finally winning with the Ford Escort Cosworth prepared by Terrosi for the Scuderia Proracing.
An important result also for Elena Gecchele and Giulia Dai Fiori , who with the Fiat 124 Abarth of Team Bassano have strengthened their leadership in the CIRAS women’s rankings.
Morino wins the A112 Abarth Trophy
A bitter end to the A112 Abarth Trophy for Riccardo Pellizzari and Christian Ronzani, forced to retire due to an engine problem during the final special stage when they were leading.
Victory thus went to Marcello Morino and Massimo Barrera , first with an 8.5-second advantage. Third place went to Lorenzo Bergamaschi and Flavio Sella , slowed by gearbox problems.
After the Rally Storico Campagnolo, the Italian Historic Car Rally Championship will return from 24 to 26 September with the Rallye Elba Storico , one of the most eagerly awaited events of the season.