Sanremo ERC: Basso leads as Andreucci hits trouble

Andreucci held a 16.2s advantage overnight and extended his lead to 25.5s over Basso before running into difficulties on the Colle d'Oggia test.

The multiple Italian title-winner changed a tyre prior to commencement of the stage after spotting a slow puncture, but forgot the tyre would be cold and subsequently spun and incurred damage to the left-rear.

He lost 9m42.9s as a result and is well out of contention for the win having dropped down to 11th overall.

Andreucci's misfortune promoted Basso into the lead. He holds a 17.4s advantage over Bryan Bouffier, who won all three of this morning's stages.

The Frenchman made his way into a provisional podium position after Umberto Scandola suffered a puncture half-way through the first stage, before experiencing engine overheating issues in the second.

The recently-crowned Italian champion failed to start the third stage of the day. It is not known whether he will continue to compete in the event.

Bouffier has a comfortable 54.4s margin over third-place Alessandro Perico, who has rising Finnish rally star Esapekka Lappi and Stefano Albertini hot on his tail with just 17.9s covering the trio.

Craig Breen continues to participate after his misfortune yesterday. He had been due to run first on the road in his Peugeot 207, but problems getting it started before the first stage meant he competed out of order.

                                                              
Leading positions after SS7:                                  
                                                              
Pos  Driver               Team/Car                 Time/Gap 
 1.  Giandomenico Basso   Munaretto Peugeot      1h55m36.9s   
 2.  Bryan Bouffier       Delta Peugeot              +17.4s   
 3.  Alessandro Perico    United Peugeot           +1m11.8s   
 4.  Esapekka Lappi       Skoda                    +1m23.8s   
 5.  Stefano Albertini    Racing Lions Peugeot     +1m29.7s   
 6.  Vasily Gryazin       Kruzmanis Ford           +5m44.9s   
 7.  Federico Gasparetti  Pistoia Renault          +7m47.2s   
 8.  Alex Vittalini       Phoenix Citroen          +8m36.5s   
 9.  Danilo Amegilo       RFG Peugeot              +8m45.1s   
10.  Michele Tassone      Tassone Renault          +8m54.4s