Giandomenico Basso will take to the start ramp of the 43rd Rally del Friuli e delle Alpi Orientali tomorrow morning looking to extend his advantage at the top of the Italian Championship leaderboard. The two-day asphalt-surface rally should perfectly suit the new breed of nimble Super2000 machines, and the Grande Punto Abarth comes to the rally defending its win last year.

Basso has a four point lead over reigning champion Paolo Andreucci going into the Rally del Friuli e delle Alpi Orientali this weekend, but it could have been much worse. A fighting recovery on the last round of the series, the Rally San Crispino-Terre di Romagna at the end of last month saw him finish second and keep his deficit to Andreucci down to two points. Luca Rosetti, 9 points adrift of the top of the table is the only other driver realistically able to threaten the title ambitions of the factory Grande Punto Abarth pilot.

Basso, who since his storming drive on the Rally San Crispino-Terre di Romagna a month ago victoriously took part in the IRC-counting Rali Vinho da Madeira to bolster Abarth's title aspirations, will lead out a bumper entry list tomorrow. "Once again we can talk about a record edition this year," says Giorgio Croce President of the Friulan organising association, "We can’t hide the fact that we were getting a little worried considering the negative trend of entrants in the national Italian rallies, but then as each day went by and the entrants started registering we got to the point of almost exceeding the maximum number of entrants allowed”. In fact, there are 49 entrants in the 12th Rally Alpi Orientali Historic (the maximum allowed is 50) and an impressive 101 in the modern car rally; once again a clear indication of the importance of this event in the national and international field.

The Italian Rally Championship (CIR) action will be fraught and the cast set to fight Basso tooth-and-nail for honour will include, as well as his title rivals reigning champion Andreucci (Mitsubishi Evo IX) and Luca Rossetti (Peugeot 207 S2000), Piero Longhi (Subaru Impreza STi) and Luca Cantamessa (Mitsubishi Evo IX); while further Super2000 challenge will come from Alessandro Perico, making his comeback behind the wheel of Friulmotor’s new Peugeot 207. The bumper entry includes 23 drivers from Norway, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Slovenia, England, Estonia, Austria, France, Switzerland and Germany will arrive, mixed up between the modern and historic categories.

The 43rd edition of the Rally del Friuli e delle Alpi Orientali and the 12th edition of the Rally del Friuli e delle Alpi Orientali Historic is scheduled to take place from 30th August to 1st September.
 

The historical town centre of Udine will once again host the rally management as well as the start of the 1st leg, the final finishing line and again scrutineering, whereas Cividale del Friuli will be the finishing line for the 1st leg and start of the 2nd, as well as the service and reordering parks. Reconnaissance of the route took place on Tuesday 28th and yesterday (Wednesday) while scrutineering will take place today (Thursday 30th August) from 10:00 a.m. and ending at 01:30 p.m. in Piazza Primo Maggio, Udine. Also taking place today will be the shakedown, that is a trial run on roads closed to traffic for the cars participating in the rally; it is scheduled to take place from 02:00 p.m. to 06:30 p.m. in Località Cialla di Prepotto.

The rally will commence tomorrow (Friday 31st August) from the town of Udine at 11:01 a.m., while the finish line of the leg will be at Cividale del Friuli around 06:30 p.m. after six special runs in Valli del Torre covering a total distance of 92.38 km out of a total of 216.75. The second and last day of the event will set off from Cividale at 09:01 a.m. and after the last six timed sections covering 113.50 km out of the total 289.30, the drivers will reach the finish podium in Udine at 06:30 p.m. on Saturday 1st September. As usual, the special trials of the second leg will take place in Valle del Natisone.

Several changes have been made compared to the last edition, namely: the “Porzus” stage on the first day of the competition and the “Tribil” stage scheduled in the second leg have been shortened by several hundred metres; the “Trivio” stage on the other hand has been extended by two kilometres compared to last year.

Therefore, an extremely spectacular and selective Friuli e delle Alpi Orientali rally is expected thanks to the participation of some of the best Italian and foreign rally drivers, seeing as this rally qualifies for the international trophies. In fact the 43rd Rally del Friuli e delle Alpi Orientali is valid for the FIA European Rally Cup 2007 – South-Western Region Coeff. 5, the Italian Rally 2007 Championship, which is the eighth race, the Mitropa Rally Cup 2007, The Triveneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia Championships, as well as the Opel Astra Trophy 2007, the Peugeot Top Competition, the Grande Punto Api IP Oro Diesel Trophy 2007 and the 19th F.I.S.A. Challenge.