At the end of leg one of the Sanremo Rally, following six special stages, the Peugeot 207 S2000 of Luca Rossetti maintains the rally lead. Today’s action consisted of just two special stages, following the long night stages that took place yesterday.

Although the weather today was dry and warm, there were still some damp and slippery patches high up in the mountain roads north of Sanremo. In view of the high temperatures today, Rossetti took a hard tyre choice that he thought was well-suited to the conditions. At the end of the two stages, he extended his lead over Abarth driver Giandomenico Basso from 12 seconds last night to just over 16 seconds at the end of the leg.

Basso also took hard tyres today, but could not use them as effectively as Rossetti. The Italian dropped a bit of time, feeling the pressure to secure a second Italian Championship title by finishing safely. This has allowed the Mitsubishi of Paolo Andreucci to close to within just over two seconds of him. Andreucci believed that the warmer conditions of today would not suit his car, but in actual fact he put in an extremely strong performance to go fastest on SS6 and remain firmly in contention for the rally win.

The Peugeot of Nicolas Vouilloz ends the leg fourth in the IRC classification, with the Frenchman still feeling wary of the slippery surfaces. The similar car of Gilles Panizzi was a frustrated fifth in IRC, with the three-time Sanremo winner struggling to overcome a set-up on his 207 S2000 that is aimed at compromise rather than precision.
 

It was a memorable day for sixth-placed Umberto Scandola, as Abarth’s young Italian set fastest time on SS5. He is still locked in a big battle with the Abarth of Freddy Loix who is seventh, while Peugeot driver Alessandro Perico (the winner of the Sanremo Rally two years ago) provisionally picked up the final drivers’ point with eighth position overnight.

The Abarth of Renato Travaglia has not made it to the end of leg one, with the Italian reported to have taken a wheel off his Grande Punto on SS6. With fourth to eighth places covered by only a minute, the action tomorrow is guaranteed to be as hot as the expected weather on the Ligurian coast.

49th Sanremo Rally, Classification at end of Leg 1: 1 Rosetti/Chiarcossi (Peugeot 207) 1h 09’56”6; 2 Basso/Dotta (Grande Punto Abarth) + 16”4; 3 Andreucci-Andreussi (Mitsubishi Lancer) + 18”8; 4 Longhi/Imerito (Subaru Impreza) + 47”2; 5 Vouilloz/Klinger (Peugeot 207) + 49”7 6. Aghini/Cerrai (Subaru Impreza) + 1’15”3; 7 Panizzi/Panseri (Peugeot 207) + 1’17”5; 8 Scandola/D’Amore (Grande Punto Abarth) + 1’18”0; 9 Loix/Chevailler (Grande Punto Abarth) + 1’39”4; 10 Perico/Carrara (Peugeot 207) + 1’39”4.