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The
factory Grande Punto Abarth S2000 of Luca
Rossetti and Matteo Chiracossi has collected
second place on the 37th Rally di San Marino
Rally, the fifth round of the Italian Rally
Championship, to keep the Italian's title hopes
well on track. Privateer driver Emauele Dati
finished in a highly impressive third place to
make it two of the Abarth cars in the top three,
although outright victory went to Rosetti's key
title rival Paolo Andreucci.
The 37th
edition of the Rally di San Marino was fought out over one
main leg yesterday (Saturday 20th June) following the start
of the event on Friday (19th June) when the "Superspecial
stage" was run in the evening, around the famous San Marino
race circuit (1,940 km), which was the real new news of the
rally's 2009 edition. It was a stage that was created this
year to increase the show, an exciting new feature that was
strongly appreciated by those who will were lucky to rally
on it and by the watching enthusiasts.
Besides
the “Superspecial stage” the other three special stages were
repeated three times, with a service park and regroupings in
Sant’Angelo in Vado. These were classic stage routes
reflecting the tradition of the rally, a tradition that has
written unforgettable pages of the sport's history in Italy.
The rally's start was at 1800 on Friday 19th June, after
which the competitors faced the Superspecial stage and then
entered night regrouping at the Kursaal Congress Palace. The
rally resumed at 0800 yesterday morning and arrived at 2000
on the finish podium, placed always at the Kursaal Congress
Palace. There was 442,73 in total of rally km, of which
140,99 km were timed special stages.
On the rough
gravel roads, made even more difficult by some rain showers
over the special stages, Rossetti just wasn't quite able to
match Andreucci's pace all day and the former Italian Rally
Champion at the wheel of the Fiat Punto S1600 chipped away
at the times to build more than a minutes lead by the time
the rally ended and set fastest time on every stage along
the way. However Rossetti's second position was a very
positive result in view of the championship and he only
drops two points to Andreucci. The pair had been tied coming
into this event. Rossetti is still firmly in contention for
the title after this weekend's action thanks to his previous
victory in the prestigious Targa Florio Rally. Sixth place
for Renato Travaglia allows him to hold onto the series lead
after five rounds but he has the advantage of contesting the
early rounds which the manufacturer-supported teams
boycotted due to their displeasure at the number of events
in the series which they believe is too many. Andreucci and
Rossetti are now just three and five points respectively
behind Travaglia, meaning that soon the title battle will be
fought out between them if they go on locking out the top
results.
Youngster
Umberto Scandola, who shared the second official Grande
Punto Abarth S2000 with co-driver Guido D’Amore, concluded a
rather hectic race with eighth place. An off-road excursion
on the fourth special stage saw him drop 1 minute and 57
seconds to the stage winner and relegated him from fourth to
fifteenth place. He then started a fine fightback, was
slowed down by a puncture, but nevertheless set impressive
stage times.
At the wheel of
the private Errepi Racing-entered Grande Punto Abarth S2000,
Emanuele Dati achieved a remarkable third place overall,
which confirms the competitiveness of the car on hard
surfaces, such is the case in San Marino. Back for a second
outing in the CIR was
Turkish driver Serkan Yazici,
a former national champion in his homeland, and he finished
in twentieth place overall in his Grifone-run Grande Punto
Abarth S2000.
Italian Rally
Championship, Rd 5 - 37th Rally di San Marino, Final
Classification: 1. Andreucci-Andreussi (Peugeot 207
S2000), 1hr52min56.9s; 2. Rossetti-Chiarcossi (Abarth Grande
Punto S2000), +1min10.8s; 3. Dati-Rocco (Abarth Grande Punto
S2000), +2min30.5s; 4. Colombini-Bizzocchi (Peugeot 207
S2000), +2min59.6s; 5. Trentin-Zanella (Peugeot 207 S2000),
+3min01.8s; 6. Travaglia-Granai (Mitsubishi Lancer),
+3min14.5s; 7. Ceccoli-Biondi (Mitsubishi Lancer),
+3min14.6s; 8. Scandola-D’Amore (Abarth Grande Punto S2000),
+ 3min27.4s; 9. Gardemeister-Tuminen (Subaru Impreza),
+3min49.6s; 10. Campedelli-Fappani (Mitsubishi Lancer),
+4min13.6s.
Italian Rally
Championship drivers' standings (after 5 rounds): 1.
Travaglia (Abarth, Peugeot, Skoda and Mitsubishi), 31
points; 2. Andreucci (Peugeot) 28; 3. Rossetti (Abarth) 26
4. Cavallini (Peugeot) 14; 5. Michelini (Peugeot) 12; 6.
Basso (Abarth) 10.
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