The Peugeot 207 Super 2000 fitting Michelin tyres driven by Basso won 7 of the 12 stages on schedule, finishing 52”7 clear of Alessandro Perico.
The Italian driver dominated the first racing day setting since the beginning a pace quite faster than the rivals. Behind him Alessandro Perico and his co-equiper Fabrizio Carrara, closing at 52''7 from the top. The third provisional place is occupied by Umberto Scandola and Guido D'Amore, who ended at 1'26"7. Skoda's driver from Verona probably had higher expectations but he lost some ground while trying to find the best setup of his car. Very good performance from Luca Rossetti, fourth on Mitsubishi, as good results came from the very young Lorenzo Bertelli, growing on his Ford Fiesta after a troubled start and the local heroes "Ciava” and Lucchesi.
In the Italian Production Championship, very unlucky race for Simone Campedelli on Citroen Ds3 R3T, as he was stopped in the last short stage due to a gearbox failure.
The place was therefore inherited by the Renault Clio driven by Alessandro Bosca who currently leads the Citroen Ds3 of the Sicilian driver Andrea Nucita.
In the Italian Rally Junior Championship Andrea Carella, Peugeot 208 R2, leads the pack and is followed by the Citroen of Cunial and by the Renault Twingo driven by Fabrizio Andolfi and Andrea Crugnola.
Paolo Andreucci run a race on his own as, being at the debut on the Peugeot 208 R2 he continued the development of the car obtaining some good intermediate times.
In the Suzuki Rally Cup Trophy, the victory went to Alessandro Uliana and his co-equiper Masina Palitta.
In the Renault Trophies the lineups Bosca - Aresca emerged on the Clio, while Andolfi - Casalini were on top on the Twingo.
The second and final leg of the rally is scheduled for tomorrow, with start set for 7.30 (GMT+2). Four stages are in the programme ("Cerretoli" and "Vagli" to be repeated twice) and will take the drivers to the finish line at 13.00, right in the heart of Castelnuovo Garfagnana.
Classifications after day 1:
Absolute Classification: 1.G.Basso-M.Dotta (Peugeot 207 S000)1'30:30.1;2.A.Perico-F.Carrara(Peugeot 207 S2000) 52.7; 3.U.Scandola-G.D'Amore (Skoda Fabia S2000)1'26.7);4.L.Rossetti-M.Chiarcossi(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 2'42.8; 5. L.Bertelli-L.Granai (Ford Fiesta RRC) 3'28.2;6. "Ciava"-M. Perna (Peugeot 207 S2000) 3'35.7;7.G.Lucchesi-T.Ghilardi(Peugeot 207 S2000) 4'11.2;8.A.Bosca-R.Aresca(Renault Clio R3) 5'24.7;9.P.Adreucci-A.Andreussi (Peugeot 208 R2) 5'52.5;10. A.Nucita-G.Princiotto(Citroen DS3) 5'59.7
CIR Absolute Classification: 1.G.Basso 1'30:30.01;2.A.Perico-52.7 3.Scandola-1'26.7 4."Ciava"-3'35.7 5.A.Bosca-5'24.7 6.P.Andreucci-5'52.5 7.A.Nucita-5'59.7 8.R.Michelini-6'23.3 9.GTognozzi-6'23.4 10.I.Ferrarotti-6'37.3
CIR Production: 1.Bosca;2.Nucita-35;3.Michelini-58.6;4.Tognozzi-58.7;5.Ferrarotti-1'12.6;6.Biasion-6'46.0;7.Re-6'49.5;8.Vittalini-8'31.6.
CIR Junior: 1.Carella 2.Cunial-21.0;3.Andolfi-32.2;4.Crugnola-47.6;5.Tassone-1'24.5 6.Currenti-1'54.7;7.Scattolon-3'55.4;8.Panzani-7'00.3
Renault Twingo Trophy "Top":1.F.Andolfi;2 A.Crugnola.;3.M.Tassone;4. G.Scattolon;5 L.Panzani.
Renault Clio "Production" Trophy: 1.A.Bosca;2. R.Michelini;3. G.Tognozzi ;4. I.Ferrarotti;5. F.Andolfi.
Citroen DS3 R3 Trophy: 1. A.Nucita;2. M.Biasion;3;.A.Re ;
Final Classification Suzuki Rally Cup Trophy: 1. Uliana-Palitta; 2.P.Amorisco-P.Rocca.
