Basso secures Sanremo victory

Giandomenico Basso clinched his second Intercontinental Rally Challenge victory of 2012 with a controlled performance on the final day of Rally Sanremo.

The 2006 champion pushed hard from the outset on Saturday morning, turning his 25-second overnight advantage into a 52s lead before lunchtime service.

Basso, driving a Ford Fiesta RRC, eased off thereafter and came home 35s clear of second-placed Jan Kopecky’s works Skoda.

Alessandro Perico and Stefano Albertini both escaped early errors as they retained their fourth and fifth places.

Paolo Andreucci completed the top five.

Craig Breen claimed sixth place on his first IRC rally since the death of co-driver Gareth Roberts in their Targia Florio crash.

Now with 2009 IRC champion co-driver Paul Nagle alongside him, Breen got his Sainteloc Peugeot up to fourth on Saturday morning before being delayed by a puncture.

Kopecky’s second place brings him to within 35 points of absent series leader Andreas Mikkelsen heading into next month’s double-points finale in Cyprus.

Juho Hanninen is also still in mathematical contention despite crashing – and landing on top of a house – on Friday night.

But it remains to be seen whether Skoda will enter any of its three factory drivers in the final IRC round before the series is superseded by the revamped European Rally Championship for 2013.

Leading finishers after SS10:
 
Pos  Driver              Team/Car                Time/Gap
  1.  Giandomenico Basso  Movisport Ford        2h19m03.6s
  2.  Jan Kopecky         Skoda                    + 35.7s
  3.  Alessandro Perico   United Peugeot         + 2m13.7s
  4.  Stefano Albertini   Racing Lions Peugeot   + 3m08.3s
  5.  Paolo Andreucci     Racing Lions Peugeot   + 1m55.5s
  6.  Craig Breen         Sainteloc Peugeot      + 5m00.2s
  7.  Frigyes Turan       Solberg Ford           + 3m14.9s
  8.  Simone Campedelli   Procar Citroen         + 7m20.5s
  9.  Pierre Campana      Munaretto Peugeot      + 8m07.0s
 10.  Roberto Vescovi     Asd Renault            + 8m18.9s
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/basso-secures-sanremo-victory

Loris Kessel Bruce Kessler Nicolas Kiesa Leo Kinnunen Danny Kladis