Andrea Crugnola and Andrea Sassi won the Rally dei Laghi 2025 ahead of Giuseppe Dipalma and Alessandro Re. For the Italian champion, it was the fourth success on home roads, the second with co-driver Sassi. In the historic category, victory went to the Venetian Antonio Avesani with Emanuele Colombo.
Crugnola’s first win here came in 2012 with a Citroen DS3 two-wheel drive. The second win happened in 2016 with a powerful Ford Fiesta WRC. The third was claimed last year with a Citroen C3 Rally2, together with his friend Andrea Sassi. Now, keeping the co-driver and car unchanged since 2024, Crugnola wrote his name for the fourth time in the roll of honor of the Rally Internazionale dei Laghi, the first rally of the ‘3rd Zone Rally Cup.’ The competition, as always, was of the highest level, even for the driver, who also had to dry two drops of cold sweat. The first was yesterday, Saturday 1 March, when, during the second test, anticipating a curve, he touched the tyre that punctured, making him lose the scratch and about five seconds. The second today, Sunday 2, when the gearbox showed signs of giving way, the technicians of the FPF Sport team promptly intervened, replacing it in half an hour. A team victory, then!
“We are really happy. I attend many races, but this one has a really high technical level both in terms of roads and opponents: it deserves a leap in quality!” said Crugnola. “This team deserves the successes it has achieved and I hope to give it many more!”
Second place for Giò Dipalma and “Cobra”, who kept a high pace with the VW Polo of the Roger Tuning team; the two were previous winners of the Laghi in 2018 and 2023 and can boast a special victory on SS2 and a pace constantly above their rivals with the obvious exception of Crugnola.
Third and authors of a good race were Alessandro Re and Marco Vozzo on their debut in a Skoda Fabia RS; they battled for a long time – prevailing by 3.9s – against Simone Miele and Roberto Mometti who had to settle for fourth place also due to a penalty in tackling the Slow Zone and for a spin. Fifth place for the young Riccardo Pederzani in a Skoda Fabia RS who, with Martina Omacini, has carried on the baton of his father Maurizio proudly.
It was a bad day for Andrea Spataro/Alessia Muffolini, in a VW Polo and sixth while smiles for Filippo Pensotti/Gabriele Falzone who suffered a spin but in general had a strong performance in a Skoda Fabia RS. Eighth was Fabio Berisonzi (Skoda Fabia RS), who found conditions similar to the Monte-Carlo Rally a month ago. Ninth, Beppe Freguglia, the four-time winner of the Laghi, with Marco Pollicino at his side, struggled in a Skoda Fabia RS. Tenth place went to Luca Fredducci, who, with Clarissa De Rosa, paid for some errors but ended up in the overall Top Ten.
Like a year ago, first in the Rally4 class and first in 2RM is Moreno Cambiaghi in a Peugeot 208. He experienced a glorious weekend prevailing among the “all-ahead” with a gap of only 1s over the Vanni and Lorenzo Maran, superlative and first in S1600 and 1.2s over Alex Vittalini/Roberto Zambetti, first in R3 in a Citroen DS3.
Of the 95 crews that passed the scrutineering, 72 saw the finish line in Piazza Monte Grappa.
Special Prizes
The team prize went to Bluthunder, while the women’s prize went to Asia Vidori and Alessia Tomii from Laveno (Renault Clio). The Cesare Sabella memorial (1st overall) and the Ernesto Redaelli memorial (1st overall) went to Andrea Crugnola, while the Angelo Siccardi memorial (1st from Varese) went to Dipalma. The Montesano Trophy speaks Valtellina with the victory of Davide Trinca Colonel and Fabio Treccani (Citroen Saxo) 1st of N2: they will receive a refund of the race registration. Second place went to fellow countrymen Emanuele Tognini/Andrea Tognini (2nd of N2), who will receive the shakedown tribute for the 2026 edition, while third place went to Simone Baruffini/Nicolas Fioroni.
Historic Category
This was a clear victory for Antonio Avesani/Emanuele Colombo. They set off in pursuit of the Peugeot 206 GTI of Matteo Marignan/Luca Marchesi, which had won the first test. Their exit from the road in SS2 cleared the way for Avesani, in a Peugeot 205 Rally, who deservedly won all the other tests; the Antonio Parini Memorial goes to the crew with the best overall time. Second place went to Daniele Martinelli/Thomas Toniolo in the rear-wheel drive Ford Sierra Turbo, while the podium was completed by Roberto Vella/Simona Zampese in another Peugeot 205.
Overall Rally dei Laghi Results
01: A. Crugnola/A. Sassi (Citroën C3 Rally2) – 46m 46.2s
02: G. Dipalma/’Cobra’ (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) + 49.1s
03: A. Re/M. Vozzo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 01m 08.2s
04: S. Miele/R. Mometti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 01m 12.1s
05: R. Pederzani/M. Omacini (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 01m 46.6s
06: A. Spataro/A. Muffolini (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) + 01m 55.4s
07: F. Pensotti/G. Falzone (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 02m 38.1s
08: F. Brega/F. Berisonzi (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 03m 29.4s
09: G. Freguglia/M. Pollicino (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 03m 31.8s
10: L. Fredducci/C. De Rosa (Škoda Fabia R5) + 03m 47.3s