At the end of the first leg of the 44th Friuli and Eastern Alps Rally, the official Grande Punto Abarth S2000s driven by Renato Travaglia with Lorenzo Granai, and Andrea Navarra with Guido D’Amore are in second and third place respectively in the overall standings.
In the first leg of the race, Travaglia scored two partial successes, taking the lead at the end of the third special speed trial. In the subsequent timed stretches he remained at the heels of Luca Rossetti (Peugeot), and ended the day just 5.1” behind.
Navarra on the other hand preferred to adopt more prudent tactics, but stepped up the pace in the second part of the leg. He is in third place, ahead of Paolo Andreucci and Luca Cantamessa, both driving Mitsubishis.
Gianpietro Bendotti from Lombardy leads the API-IP Oro Diesel Trophy, ahead of Gianluca Zilocchi, Dimitri Brunello and Umberto Consigli. Alessio Pisi and the Turkish driver Fathi Kara have both retired.
The second and final leg will be run tomorrow, Saturday August 30, starting at 10 am and finishing at 5.30 pm, with another 6 speed trails for a total of 110 km of timed speed.
Standings after the first leg: 1. Rossetti-Chiarcossi (Peugeot 207) in 1 hour 10’07.2”; 2. Travaglia-Granai (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) at 5.1”; 3. Navarra-D’Amore (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) at 41.2”; 4. Andreucci-Andreussi (Mitsubishi Lancer) at 1’09.5”; 5. Cantamessa-Capolongo (Mitsubishi Lancer) at 2’01.6”; 6. Perego-Pizzuti (Mitsubishi Lancer) at 2’01.9”; 7. Perico-Carrara (Peugeot 207) at 3’05.5”; 8. Cavallini-Zanella at 4’01.6”.
Turin, August 29, 2008
International
