Isaia Zanotti and Roberto Gasperoni are keeping their bid for the Italian RC5 title alive. At the 33rd San Marino Revival, the tenth round of the CIREAS 2026 championship, the San Marino crew, driving a Fiat Ritmo Abarth 130 TC, finished ahead of their direct rivals Andrea Malucelli and Luigi Cantarini, clawing back valuable ground in the standings.
For Zanotti and Gasperoni, racing under the colours of Scuderia Rovigo Corse, the home event did not start smoothly. Early penalties left them playing catch-up before a steady comeback pushed them back towards the top of the field.
“Going into the race, the situation was crystal clear,” Zanotti explains. “With the provisional RC5 leaders Lastri-Pantani absent, simply managing the race wasn’t enough for us — we had to attack and aim to finish ahead of Malucelli, who was currently second behind the missing Tuscan crew. Even though we were racing on our home roads, we struggled to find the right rhythm in the early stages and picked up a few too many penalties. But then the comeback began, and the gap started to close.”
The turning point came in the second half of the event. The two San Marino drivers finished as runners-up overall on net penalties, behind winners Flavio Renna and Paolo Abalsamo and ahead of Mario Passanante and Elisa Buccioni.
However, the application of the car-age coefficient altered the final classification, dropping Zanotti and Gasperoni to fourth place overall. The podium slipped away by a mere 0.03 points.
“It’s a shame, because the podium got away from us by the slimmest of margins. At the start, our focus was entirely on the battle with our direct RC5 rival. Finding ourselves in contention for the podium during the race was something really special, especially since it happened on our home roads. Of course it’s disappointing to come so close and just miss out, but we have to focus on everything we did right.”
The weekend on Titano also delivered a first piece of silverware. With two rounds still to go, Zanotti and Gasperoni have mathematically secured the Italian Class title in the 2000cc RC5 category, claiming the crown for the third consecutive year.
“With this result, we’ve also mathematically clinched the Italian Class Title in the 2000cc RC5 category for the third year running, two rounds early — and managing to seal it right here, on our home roads, makes it even sweeter. Now, with the class title already in the bag, we don’t want to stop: the battle for the overall RC5 standings is still open, and we’ll fight for it right to the end.”
The class win means the San Marino duo head into the final two rounds of the season just 5.5 points behind the RC5 overall leaders. The overall group title, therefore, remains very much up for grabs.
