The 28-year-old Italian beat Hungarian and fellow Pirelli-equipped Peugeot 208 Rally2 driver Márton Bertalan by a commanding margin of 2min 21.9sec as Michael Rendina completed the podium in a Pirelli-shod Renault Clio Rally4.
“After Gianandrea went off in the first stage this morning we had to try to keep the pace without taking any risks and that is the most difficult thing to do,” Cogni said. “But everything was good with the car and the Pirelli tyres.”
Cogni’s path to victory was eased when Gianandrea Pisani, who who’d battle for first place throughout leg one before he was slowed by a damaged tyre on SS7, crashed out 1.7km from the start of Sunday’s opening stage.
Sun 28 Jul 2024
Pisani’s Roma crash leaves Cogni in the clear to win ERC4
Giorgio Cogni charged to a dominant maiden FIA ERC4 victory on his return to the championship after two seasons away.
“It’s fantastic to be here in with the first place in both the Italian and the European championships,” Cogni said. “We pushed really hard, it was a tight battle with Pisani, we were in front even with him in the race. Today, unluckily for him, he went off but I am really happy.
“The ERC is a beautiful championship and it was nice to be back but with budget I have and everyday job, I am not able to race any more, maybe one race in the next year but the championship is impossible. I am an engineer working in manufacturing so tomorrow I need to go back to work.”
Behind Rendina, Ekaterina Stratieva and wheelchair user Ciprian Lupu achieved their respective targets of reaching the finish in fourth and fifth respectively.
Junior ERC regular Davide Pesavento, who crashed out of third place on SS4, was a non-starter on leg two.
Barum Czech Rally Zlín is up next for the ERC4 stars and their cars with the all-asphalt event counting as round six of the 2024 season from 16 - 18 August.