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With
his Intercontinental rally Challenge (IRC) title
hopes having expired in Spain last weekend
Abarth has freed up Giandomenico Basso from his
duties in the series to focus on winning the FIA
European Rally Championship (ERC) and contest
the next round in Greece in a week's time which
clashes with the next event on the IRC calendar.
With just three rounds of the ERC remaining to
be contested, starting with the 33rd ELPA Rally
in Greece in seven days time, Basso is in a
strong position to secure the prestigious title,
as he is lying just five points behind the
current championship points leader, Pole Michal
Solowow (Peugeot 207 S2000).
With four of
this year's eleven ERC rounds also counting for the IRC, it
has meant that Basso has been able to rack up a healthy ERC
points tally while leadng out Abarth's factory IRC team, and
having been registered for a European tilt, he has been
contesting selected self-standing rounds of the ERC for the
private Spanish D'Ambra team in its Abarth Grande Punto. The
33rd ELPA Rally which takes place on the same weekend as
Rallye Sanremo will be the first clash between the to series
where Basso has been given the nod to contest the ERC.
Basso can be
assured the means to challenge for victory next weekend as
driving for the D'Ambra team he won both the season-opening
Mille Miglia Rally and then the Bulgaria Rally in July. His
biggest test will come in surviving the rigours of the ELPA
Rally, one of the toughest events on the rally calendar. The
thirty-third edition, organised under the auspices of the Municipality of Itea,
will take place from 25 to 27 September, and as well as
being the ninth round of the ERC it is also a round of
the Greek Rally Championship.
After winning
the season-opening Mille Miglia Rally with D'Ambra, Basso
skipped the next two ERC events, allowing Solowow to open up
a points lead. Basso returned to the series in time for
round four and then three straight ERC category wins on the
Belgium Ypres Rally, Rally Bulgaria and Rali Vinho Madeira
propelled him back into the championship lead. However
misfortune on the two most recent rounds, the Barum Czech
Rally Zlín and Rally Principe de Asturias has allowed
Solowow to regain the initiative and open up a five point
lead. The Pole now has 77 points to Basso's 72. Corrado
Fontana (Peugeot 207 S2000) is the only other driver still
in the hunt for the title, the Italian has 65 points and and
bad luck for the two leaders on this demanding event could
put him back into the title fight.
Fontana did help Basso somewhat last weekend in Spain as he took the biggest helping of points
(15) in the ERC category and thus limited the points damage
for the Abarth driver after he slipped down the order on the
final morning. Fontana will switch from his usual Peugeot
mount to a Mitsubishi Evo IX in Greece as he banks on the
Japanese GpN machine being more likely to survive over the
deadly stages than the French Super 2000 car. There will in
fact only be three Super 2000 cars out on the rally as aside
from Basso and Solowow, a local crew will be in action
behind the wheel of an Opel Corsa S2000.
This year’s
two-day 33rd ELPA Rally will take place entirely on gravel
surfaces over famous special stages in the wider region of
Central Greece. On the opening day, Saturday September 26,
competitors will have to run through six special stages that
add up to a total of 166 km. These stages are “New
Drossohori”, “New Stromi” and “Pavliani” and will all be run
twice. On the second and final day, Sunday, there will also
be six special stages scheduled; “Aghia Efthimia”,
“Karoutes” and “Drossohori” which again they will be run
twice, with their total length coming to nearly 123 km.
Basso won't have the only Italian car in
action on the ELPA Rally as, with the event also counting
towards the Greek Rally Championship, local regulars
Vassilis Parathyras and Angeliki Varouxi will be in action
in an Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo. On the Sunday stages the
competitors will be joined by the crews contesting the Greek
Historic Rally Championship and Alfa Romeo enthusiasts', who
set racing success above all other values, will be cheering
on another local crew, Lyberis Papazoglou and Pavlos Kiousis
who will be racing over the demanding surfaces behind the
wheel of their 1975 Alfasud.
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