Panizzi to fight through the pain

Panizzi damaged ligaments when he fell off a ladder while fixing a lightbulb in his home just before Rally Finland. The French tarmac wizard spent a day testing in Corsica last week and admitted he still felt pain as he put the Peugeot 206WRC through its paces.

"During the tests last week in Corsica driving was OK for half a day, but it was hard," admitted Panizzi. "My arm gets tired, we'll see at the shakedown tomorrow if I could be at 100 percent."

Panizzi reported no problems as he completed the recce for Sanremo on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and is determined to do his best on the rally that he has won for the past two years.

"If my feeling is good for Sanremo, I can win, I'm very positive about that," he continued. "I'm working very hard all the time to get this right, in the swimming pool and the gym. All the time I am working to be right for Sanremo. Driving the car was a little painful, but I'll do what I can."

Team-mate Richard Burns admitted his own chances of winning in Sanremo were dictated by the performance of Panizzi.

"We'll have to wait and see," said the Englishman. "It does totally depend on Gilles. If everything goes fine, we'll be on the podium. The car is good, the balance is good and the tyres are good."

Log on to www.autosport.com this weekend for living rally times from every stage.