Giandomenico Basso won his second rally for the 2005 European Rally Championship in Greece yesterday, maintaining his hopes for winning the title right down to the final fight of year, the Rally Antibes of France. The experienced Simon Jean Joseph (Renault Clio S1600), who won in Greece last year, finished second behind the Italian, while the third podium place was claimed by the leader in the points table of European Championship, Renato Travaglia (Renault Clio S1600). Travaglia, who is still placed first in the championship table, now with seven more points than Basso, got close to losing third place, when a puncture on SS10 (Korfes) cost him a lot of time. The 2002 Champion though pushed at the very maximum and hung onto his position. First of the Greeks to finish was Iaveris Jr. (Fiat Punto S1600), who impressed with his performance on both legs.

The 30th EKO Rally - fast and demanding tarmac test of drivers and machines

The second most important motorsport event in Greece - following the FIA WRC-counting Acropolis Rally- is the 30th EKO Rally which this year took place between 23-25 September, in Aegialia. The two-days asphalt rally counted as the 8th round of the 2005 FIA European Rally Championship, as well as the 5th and 6th rounds of the Greek Rally Championship and the 4th round of the Greek Asphalt Cup. Support by the EKO-ELDA oil company, this event is aiming to become a milestone for the European standards in the fields of organisation, safety and promotion.

The asphalt rally this year was hosted in the town of Aegio, and in the main square the starting ceremony was scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon, the 23rd of September, with the finish ceremony two days later (yeserday). The 30th EKO Rally was scheduled to consist of 13 Special Stages, some of which were being used for the first time, and spread out to the Achaia and Korinthia Districts. A fast and demanding rally for the crews it was also designed to offer both spectacle and easy access to the spectators.

After his storming win on the last round of the FIA European Rally Championship - the Fiat Rally in Turkey - Giandomenico Basso and the N.Technology factory Fiat team had held onto their title hopes by a slender thread. Third place for title rival Renato Travaglia (Renault Clio S1600) had closed the gap to 11 points with just two rounds remaining, and a maximum of 20 points still on offer. Reigning ERC champion Simon Jean-Joseph was also out on the EKO Rally, but with his title hopes all but ended, the Renault driver would be another hinderance to points for the Fiat team. Basso arrived in Greece for this penultimate round targeting nothing short of overall victory - no other result would suffice. And just like in Turkey, Fiat's JWRC driver Mirco Baldacci would join the team, hoping to mix it up with the ERC frontrunners and take points away from Travaglia.

EIGHT STAGE VICTORIES AS GIANDOMENICO BASSO DOMINATES THE EKO RALLY

Giandomenico Basso came out of the starting blocks on a mission, immediately setting the fastest time on the wet surfaces of stage one, the first running of Selinoundas, with the two Renault drivers' snapping at his heels. The fast tarmac dried in time for the second stage, ands Basso went quickest again, although he complained about a wrong tyre choice. By the time the thirty nine remaining cars wound their way back to Parc Ferme, the Fiat Punto driver had established a 19.3 second lead over Jean-Joseph's Renault. Travaglia - the ERC title leader - was sitting comfortably in third place, 40.55 seconds adrift of Basso, looking rather towards grabbing a healthy chunk of points to maintain his points cushion than an victory heroics.
 

Baldacci's opening day had not started well as he was penalised 70 seconds for a false start on SS1. However this was later rescinded by the stewards of the event and he finished the first day in fourth place, 20 seconds adrift of Travaglia, while in fifth place Iaveris Jr was the first of the local contingent - also aboard a Super1600 class Punto - who led the separately-counting Greek Championship proceedings.

Leg two saw Basso claiming fastest times on four of the day's seven stages. He kicked proceedings off on the opening stage of the morning (SS7, Evrostina 1) and followed it up with another scratch time on SS8, Feneos). Team mate Baldacci continued to loose time, but was flummoxed by his performance, "I am not happy by our performance, I don’t know what's wrong," he commented after SS8.

With the gap to the chasing Jean-Joseph up to 24.56 seconds, Basso could now afford to turn down the wick, and with two further fastest times on (SS10 Korfes) and (SS11 Evrostina 2) he cruised to the finish line with a 20.96 second advantage over second place Jean-Joseph. "It was a quite pleasant rally," said Basso at the finish line, adding, "We didn’t suffer from mechanical problems and after all we made right tyre choices. The second day was perfect. Regarding the title we have not many chances to win since Travaglia finished in front of Baldacci."

Travaglia suffered a puncture on SS10 and was thus very content to collect six points after scooping the final podium position, the Renault driver eventually finishing 1 minute and 24.34 seconds behind the winner. "I am very happy with the result," said a relieved Travaglia afterwards, "I aimed at fourth and managed to finish in third position. The European Championship has not finished yet."

"We lost all hope yesterday when we loose 30 seconds due to rain. The rally was very good and quite fast," said a clearly disappointed Baldacci, who came home in fifth position. First between the Greek drivers to finish was Iaveris Jr in the Fiat Punto S1600 who impressed with his strong performances on both legs of EKO Rally. Panos Hatzitsopanis (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII MR) finished second in the Greek Rally Championship category, and at the same time was the fastest of Group N runners. "It was a nice rally," commented Iaveris Jr, "Special stages were technical enough and regarding the safety, organization made a great job. We are happy with the result, even if we realised that international competitors are far from Greeks."

Giandominco Basso's second win of the year keeps his title hopes just alive, and the Italian now heads for the final round of the 2005 FIA European Rally Championship, the Antibes Rally in France, seven points adrift of the series leader, Renato Travaglia.

by Marco Tenuti in Greece