ERC: Rallye Sanremo / Rally review
53/64
Finale Extravaganza
With Andreucci’s demise,
Basso could rise to prominence. He inherited the
lead from his fellow countryman and had a comfortable cushion over Bouffier
who was in second. Bouffier though would not settle for second and pushing
until he closed to gap to a
mere seven seconds before the final stage. Basso
still felt confident before
the stage, but his lead over
Bouffier had been as big as
45 seconds at one point.
With well over twenty kilometers to go in the final
stage, Bouffier might just
have enough to edge the
Italian out of victory.
the top as those around him
faltered. Bouffier’s demise
also promoted Lappi to
second with Perico in third.
Lappi had been adopting
a cautious approach as he
lacks experience on these
tricky roads and was mainly here to learn the event.
His
uncharacteristically
calm performance paid
dividends just like Basso’s.
It is so easy to make a
mistake around Sanremo.
The roads are fast, tight,
covered with leaves making the grip levels very difficult to judge and on top
of it all they are lined with
trees, barriers and cliffs,
not something you want to
encounter. More than anywhere, the saying ‘to finish
It wasn’t to be Bouffier’s rally first, you first have to finthough. Continuing to push ish’, applies to this event.
he hit a puncture on the final stage and was forced to Production Cup Honours
change a tyre on the stage. Another delighted man
This of course left him with at the finish was Andreas
no chance of victory and Aigner. He wasn’t as much
actually dropped him down in the spotlight as he had
all the way to fourth. Basso been in Croatia, with a car
was happy enough though. not quite suited to these
Throughout the entire rally roads. It didn’t bother him
he only won one stage, but though as he did enough to
his steady performance claim the ERC Production
was enough to bring him to Cup for group N cars.
Local knowledge goes a long way. Basso didn’t win many stages, but he knew exactly were
not to make a mistake, crucial in Sanremo. In the end the win was a just reward.
Ready to move up to the big league? Andreas Aigner clinched the Porduction Cup title in
Sanremo and will be looking to step up to a top car for 2014.