Sanremo IRC: Giandomenico Basso secures 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to be seen whether Skoda will enter any of its three factory drivers in the final IRC round before the series is superseded by the revamped European Rally Championship for 2013.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
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