Basso blasts into Sanremo lead
Giandomenico Basso surged from fourth to first with a stunning performance on the epic 44-kilometre night stage that concluded day one of Rally Sanremo
Ronde was a combination of all three stages that had been used for today's opening loops, and crews had to cope with both darkness and a damp stage following earlier rain.
The home drivers completely blitzed the Intercontinental Rally Challenge regulars on the stage, with Abarth duo Basso and Luca Rossetti first and second fastest, and pre-Ronde leader Paolo Andreucci third in his Peugeot.
Freddy Loix was the best of the regular IRC competitors in fourth on the stage, but he was 20 seconds slower than Rossetti and Andreucci - and 36s down on Basso, who was a clear 15s quicker than anyone else on the stage, thanks in part to his choice of cut slicks while most rivals went for intermediates.
That meant he vaulted into the rally lead, 5.2s ahead of Andreucci and 17.5s in front of new third-place man Rossetti.
Kris Meeke is still the best non-Italian in fourth, despite spinning his Peugeot near the end of Ronde.
"I lost 20-25 seconds with a spin near to the finish," he said. "It's not over but to win these rallies you can't afford stupid mistakes like that."
He still outpaced Skoda's Juho Hanninen on the stage, with the Finn frustrated with a tyre choice more appropriate for wetter conditions. He holds fifth, 2.2s behind Meeke, with Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot) and fellow Skoda driver Loix close behind.
Title contender Jan Kopecky (Skoda) was yet another usual frontrunner to struggle through Ronde and lost more time in eighth, while Skoda UK's Guy Wilks rued his soft set-up as he dropped to 11th overall.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Giandomenico Basso Abarth 1h15m50.6s 2. Paolo Andreucci Peugeot + 5.2s 3. Luca Rossetti Abarth + 17.5s 4. Kris Meeke Peugeot + 46.9s 5. Juho Hanninen Skoda + 49.1s 6. Bryan Bouffier Peugeot + 56.4s 7. Freddy Loix Skoda + 58.2s 8. Jan Kopecky Skoda + 1m28.2s 9. Gianfranco Cunico Peugeot + 1m33.3s 10. Alessandro Perico Peugeot + 1m33.8s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Hamilton accepts blame for incident with Albon in F1 Brazilian GP
Ferrari drivers called to F1 stewards over Brazilian GP collision
Will Alonso's Indy failure end the age of versatility?
Alpine gets F1 spare car for first time in 2024 as lighter chassis appears in China
F1 Chinese GP: Stroll leads FP1 as small fire causes early red flag
Live: F1 Chinese GP updates – FP1 & Sprint qualifying
How real-time scrutineering ensures fair and consistent competition in motorsport
Ireland deserves a WRC round
Kubica's rally to recovery
Why Kubica can win on ERC debut
Rallying's new era keeps the best of the old
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments