Sanremo, 5 April 2014 . Years go by, men and cars change and validities alternate but the Rally Sanremo keeps being a unique race with an irresistible charm. The Veronese Umberto Scandola and his navigator from Liguria Guido D'Amore came out on top at the wheel of the Skoda Fabia Super 2000 at the end of a very eventful race. They deservedly obtained the highest step of the podium that was also worth the lead of the championship. Scandola has been chasing Giandomenico Basso for a long part of the race as the latter's GPL powered Ford Fiesta R5 kept the lead from the second to the ninth scheduled stage. The pressure Scandola put on Basso might have played a role in the mistake made by the Ford driver that had to retire due to an incident. Sanremo brought a lot of confirmations too. The first one is Andrea Nucita, who has been good in taking his Peugeot 207 Super 2000 to the second step of the podium. The Sicilian is a certainty in this championship and is hoping to keep this momentum in the next round of CIR, the Targa Florio scheduled for next 9 – 10 May. Behind the front runners, Andrea Perego run very solid stages on his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, that placed him in third. This result confirms all the very good driving skills of the driver from Valtellina. Fabrizio Andolfi Junior put also in a very good race that earned him the victory in the Italian Production Championship as well as the fourth place in the absolute classification. Giacomo Scattolon, Peugeot 208 R2, ended first in the Italian Junior Championship and fifth in the absolute classification. Very good races also for the Citroën Ds3 R3 driven by Alex Vittalini, who was first in the Citroën Rally Trophy, and those of the two Renault Twingo of Luca Panzani, first in the Twingo Top R2 Trophy and second in the Junior, and of Rudy Michelini who made the Citroën Ds3 R5 debut. The car run by Procar Motorsport is still a bit raw but some times made a good display of its potential.
Nice race in the 1st Suzuki Rally Trophy, where all the eight Suzuki Swift made it to the finish line. Among the drivers competing in this series, Michele Tassone and Daniele Michi won the trophy and lead the classification R1 ACI Csai Trophy at the Rally Sanremo Legend. The driver from Cuneo, on the GPL powered Suzuki Swift Sport run by BRC, managed to complete his comeback during the sixth stage getting the lead of the race off Jacopo Lucarelli who struggled a bit due to a contact. The Piedmont's driver of Meteco increased his lead and crossed the finish line set in piazzale Adolfo Rava, 1'17"6 clear of the Tuscan driver Andrea Iacconi, who was at the debut on the Swift Sport. Lucarelli was third at 1'27" on the Etruria's car. The fourth place went to Gianluca Saresera and Goi Debora, the fifth to Denaro and Sonia Boi that were also leading the classification of the Racing Start.

Umberto Scandola triumphed in a very tight and as usual tough race in Sanremo. Paolo Andreucci scared everyone in the first stage when he put his Peugeot 208 R5 T16 10'' clear of Basso. This high was unfortunately followed by a retirement due to an un-fixable problem to the engine cooling system. The second big twist was Giandomenico Basso's retirement as consequence of an exit of his GPL Ford Fiesta R5. His was quite an heavy mistake as the Veronese was leading the pack with and advantage of 33''5s to Umberto Scandola.

Final Absolute Classification of the 56th Rally Sanremo: 1.Scandola - D'Amore (Skoda Fabia S2000) in 2:35'40.3; 2. Nucita-Princiotto (Peugeot 207 S2000) at 47.8; 3.Perego-De Luis (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) at 9'11.2 ; 4. F. Andolfi Junior-Casalini (Renault New Clio R3) at 9'56.2;5. Scattolon-Grimaldi (Peugeot 208 R2) at 10'34; 6. Michelini-Angiletta (Citroen Ds3 R5) at 11'01.8. ; 7.Vittalini-Tavecchio (Citroen DS3 R3) at 11'13.9 ; 8. Carella-Bracchi (Renault Twingo R2) at 11'43.6; 9.Panzani-Baldacci (Renault Twingo R2) at 11'54.4;10.Gasperetti-Ferrari (Renault Twingo R2) at 12'05.8

CIR Drivers Classification: 1. Scandola 27 ;2.Perego 16 ; 3. Basso 15 ; 4.Fabrizio Andolfi Junior 13 ; 5. Michelini 13; 6. Nucita 12; Scattolon; 10 Andreucci 10.

CIR Production Classification: 1.Andolfi J. 27; 2.Vittalini 22; 3.Marchioro 16; Ferrarotti 15; Gheno 10.

CIR Junior Classification: 1.Scattolon 30 ; 2.Panzani 20; Carella 12; Albertini 12 ; Andolfi 8.

CIR Constructors Classification: 1.Peugeot 30; 2.Skoda 27; 3.Renault 20; 4.Mitsubishi 16; 5.Ford 15; 6.Citroen 8

CIR Production Constructors Classification: 1.Renault 52; 2.Citroen 22.