A puncture just a few kilometres from the end of the last special stage of the Targa Florio Rally slowed down a remarkable charge by the Grande Punto Abarth driven by Giandomenico Basso and Mitia Dotta as it was about to catch up with Paolo Andreucci, who eventually won the rally in his Mitsubishi Lancer. The fourth event in the Italian Championship concluded with a runner-up placing for the official Abarth driver which, however, means that he still leads the Italian series with the same number of points as Andreucci.
The final leg of the Targa Florio started with a frenzied assault by the Grande Punto Abarth which, in just three special stages, regained most of the gap from the previous day, bringing it to just 9.2 seconds from the leader. Then, during the final rush, a deflating front right tyre prevented the team from winning a rally in which their performance was improving by the minute, with Basso and his navigator Dotta constantly chipping away at the gap accumulated during the first three timed stages, which were dogged by partially wet conditions.
After continuing to set excellent times in the second leg, the diesel-powered Grande Punto Abarth Multijet driven by Davide Gatti with Maurizio Barone also finished the rally well, hanging on to its lead of the Group A class.
The next event in the Italian Championship is the Salento Rally, which will be run in Puglia from June 14 to 16.
Targa Florio Rally standings
1. Andreucci-Andreussi (Mitsubishi Lancer), 1h 48m 20.1s; 2. Basso-Dotta (Grande Punto Abarth) +22.0s; 3. Rossetti-Chiarcossi (Peugeot 207) +46.8s; 4. Gamba-Guzzi (Mitsubishi Lancer) +2m 08.3s ; 5. Longhi-Imerito (Subaru Impreza) +2m 17.7s; 6. Medici-Cicognini (Mitsubishi) +2m 44.5s; 7. Aghini-Cerrai (Subaru Impreza) +2m 45.8s; 8. Perego-De Luis (Mitsubishi Lancer) +2m 46.3s; 9. Paire-Mancini (Renault Clio) +4m 30.1s; 10. Runfola-Cimino (Mitsubishi Lancer) +4m 30.1s.
Italian Championship standings
1. Giandomenico Basso (Grande Punto Abarth) and Paolo Andreucci (Mitsubishi) 26 points; 3. Luca Rossetti (Peugeot) 21; 4. Piero Longhi (Subaru) 17; 5. Luca Cantamessa (Mitsubishi) 16.
Turin, May 6, 2007
International
