Royère takes WRC3 victory as Fontana makes history in Sunday charge

Royère clinched the WRC3 victory at the conclusion of the event, holding off a late charge from his rivals despite an earlier commanding advantage. The final podium was completed by Ghjuvanni Rossi, who secured third place after returning to action on Sunday following a Saturday retirement.

The standout story of the final day was Fontana, who made history by becoming the first driver to win an outright World Rally Championship stage in a Rally3 car. Benefiting from superior road conditions compared to early starters, the 22-year-old recorded back-to-back stage wins during the morning loop. His pace was sufficient to briefly lead the Super Sunday standings ahead of Rally1 competitors, before the faster cars reclaimed the top positions on the second pass.

Despite the significant time deficits accumulated from technical issues earlier in the event, Fontana managed to whittle his gap to Royère down to 3min 59.1sec by the finish. Reflecting on his breakthrough performance, an elated Fontana celebrated the achievement with co-driver Alessandro Arnaboldi after completing the rally as the sixth-fastest driver overall on Sunday.