The village of Bolgheri was the absolute protagonist of this third stage of the Cirm. It was from here, in fact, that the participants in the second edition of the Coppa Liburna Historic Regularity Rally set off on Friday 9 June for the two demanding stages of the race.
The first day of competition ran entirely in the Alta Maremma, while the second pushed the competitors further north, between Livorno and Pisa.
Three average tests were repeated twice during the first stage: Volpaiola, Sassetta and Castello dei Segalari.
But it started immediately with a twist:
After retiring from the Costa Smeralda, bad luck continued to strike Maurizio Verini, who, on board the same car with which he had won the Coppa Liburna in 1975, would also take part in this stage of the Cirm. Unfortunately, a failure of his Fiat X 1/9 a few minutes before the start did not allow him to start the race.
The first stage saw the Cirm protagonists paired up, with first place going to the crew Fabio and Paolo Vedona in a Peugeout 205 GTI, followed at one penalty by Ferruccio and Carlo Nessi in a Morris Mini Cooper S and at two penalties by Tattini-Topi in their Lancia Fulvia Coupè.
The winners of the Coppa Costa Smeralda 2023, the crew Bonnet-Bonnet, returned to competition in the CIRM and won the second round, the Sassetta.
After them Concari-Androvandi in a Lancia Delta Hf followed by a Fabio Verdona in great form.
Same winning trio for the third round, Castello dei Segalari, and for the second round of Vopaiola and Sassetta.
The balance was only broken on the second lap of Castello di Segalari, where Concari-Androvandi took control of the classification, overtaking the Bonnet-Bonnet crew by a handful of penalties.
Gandino-Merenda, on the other hand, on board the trusty Fiat Ritmo Abarth and veterans of the victory at the Targa Florio, end the first day of the race with a third place in the last media test.
Technical problems on the last Pm of the stage saw Verdona leave the test with the third-last time and fall in the overall standings.
The second day of the Liburna Cup saw the participants compete in two series of tests, the Vaiolo Traversa, Montevaso and Ripabella, divided by lunch and an additional test before the second round, the Circuito di Montenero.
A very solid provisional podium by Grifone that characterised the second day of the Tuscan stage of the Cirm.
For all the trials of the day, in fact, the Ligurian team took the first three places with Bonnet-Bonnet on the highest step, followed by the Italian champions Concari-Androvandi in a Lancia Delta and Gandino-Merenda in a Fiat Ritmo.
Also animated was the battle at the foot of the podium between the Porsche of Marcattil-Giammarino and the Mazda of Catanzaro-Beneduce were unable to maintain the fourth place finish they had won thanks to an excellent performance in the last stage of Leg 1.
An all-Grifone Coppa Liburna, therefore, which saw its crews take the top three places on the podium. Bonnet-Bonnet, after their victory in Porto Cervo, in the opening race of the Italian Championship, also won the Liburna Cup, followed by the Cirm 2023 leaders Concari-Androvandi and the Gandino-Merenda crew, who reached third place after their victory in Palermo in race two. It was a finish that was totally dedicated to the recently deceased President Gianni Chiesa, who was assigned crew number one during this competition.
As far as the team classification is concerned, the Grifone once again came out on top, followed by Milano Auto Storiche and the hosts Scuderia Falesia.
Groupings as always fought to the last metre.
Ferruccio and Carlo Nessi took the solo win in Group 2 aboard their Morris Mini Cooper from Brescia Corse.
In Group 3, Mercattil-Giammarino in a Porsche 2000 T of the Porsche Classic Milano Est preceded Carlo and Dario Pinci and their Fiat 124 Sport Coupe.
In Group 4, Roberto Ricci and Marco Frascaroli in an Autobianchi A112 Abarth Grifone got the better of Andrea Tattini and Andrea Topi in a Lancia Fulvia Coupe' by 31 penalties. The Scuderia Falesia crew precedes the Opel Kadett GTE of Angelo Pasino, navigated by Patrizia Italiano.
Paolo Concari and Cristiano Androvandi take their Lancia Delta Grifone to the top of the Group Five classification.
Behind them at only 25 penalties is the Fiat Ritmo Abarth 130 TC of team-mates Marco Gandino and Carlo Merenda.
Third position for the Milano Autostoriche crew of Vittorio Catanzaro and Anna Maria Beneduce in a Mazda 323.
The second edition of the Coppa Liburna goes into the archives. The Tuscan race, organised by the Scuderia Falesia, excellently coordinated by Mauro Parra, was unanimously acclaimed by the protagonists of the Italian Medium Regularity Championship, who gathered in Biella for the Rally della Lana Storico, the fourth round of the tricolour series.
