Giandomenico for the 5th time, king of the 71st Rallye Sanremo
Fifth victory on Western Liguria for Giandomenico Basso, who with a great recovery in the second day finished on the top step of the podium ahead of the confirmed Italian champion Crugnola and Andrea Campedelli.
SANREMO (IM), 19 October – He always had the podium step, the highest, in his sights, even though the difficult conditions, especially in the first stage on Friday, advised cautious remarks. Giandomenico Basso, co-driven by Lorenzo Granai, obtained his fifth victory in Sanremo, his second win of the season (after the Piedmont Region at the beginning of the season), a result that also earned him second place in the Italian Overall Rally-Sparco Championship, overtaking Simone Campedelli third in the race and in the championship..
After the first day had closed with Andrea Campedelli-Tania Canton at the top of the standings thanks to a hat-trick of successes in the day’s stages, the second day began with the success of Crugnola in the short stage of Montalto, followed by the special stage of Carpasio, interrupted prematurely due to the accident of Federico Gangi-Fabrizia Pons, second to start the special in their Škoda stopped in the middle of the tarmac, a situation that forced Paolo Andreucci and Rudi Briani to drive off the road to avoid hitting the car of the Savona driver. The second leg got into full swing with the next Calderara SS when it was Basso who took the lead, passing Campedelli in the overall standings by just 5/10.
The second passage on the stages saw Crugnola confirm himself as king of the Montalto SS, with Campedelli again overtaking Basso by just 3/10. Then the long Carpasio-Rezzo stage of 21.02 km which featured a great attack by Basso at the top of the classification, leaving Crugnola at 1‘6 and Campedelli a good 10’ clear. The standings for the overall podium began to take shape, with Basso taking the lead with an advantage of 9″6 over Campedelli, approached by Crugnola, on whom he now had only 6/10. In the final stage it was Crugnola who prevailed with 8/10 on Campedelli and 2″4 on Basso who controlled the situation and went on to take his fifth win at Sanremo. Crugnola ‘s performance at Calderara SS allowed the driver from Varese to overtake Campedelli in the overall classification, a result that gave Basso second place overall in the CIAR (Italian Overall Champoonship).
Behind the trio on the podium is the very young Roberto Daprà with Luca Guglielmetti taking his second win in the Promotion Championship, followed by Marco Signor and Daniele Michi then Bostjan Avbelj-Damian Andrejka. Elwis Chentre-Federico Boglietti, ninth overall, took victory among the competitors in the Zone Rally Cup.
87 competitors finished the race.