The Rallye International du Valais, eighth race in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, will start tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, October 25) from Martigny, Switzerland; the official Grande Punto Abarths of Andrea Navarra with Dario D’Esposito and of young Umberto Scandola with Guido D’Amore, will be there.
Navarra will be trying to win back first place in the Drivers’ title race, in which he is currently second, 7 points behind the leader, Garcia-Ojeda of Spain in a Peugeot. It is an opportunity for Scandola to make his talents known abroad, after his excellent performance in the San Remo Rally, where he ended in fourth place.
Two unofficial Grande Punto Abarths will also be at the start, driven by Freddy Loix of Belgium and Philippe Roux of Switzerland.
The Valais Rally is also valid for the Abarth Oro Diesel Trophy, which is reserved for diesel versions of the Grande Punto powered by the Multijet engine. A single-brand championship in its first season, which is proving very competitive, with two drivers tied for first: young Alessio Pisi from Liguria and Tiziano Nerobutto from Trento. With two races to go, success in this event would be important for both of them.
The race itinerary is very demanding, run on the paved roads in the mountains of the French canton of Switzerland. It is 748 km long, with 261 km of timed speed spread over 17 special trials and divided into three legs. The first starts from Martigny at 2.45 pm on Thursday October 25 and concludes at 7.15 pm after three speed trials. The second leg will be run on Friday October 26, starting at 8.45 am and concluding at 7 pm; this is a very difficult leg because it includes 7 speed trials, one of which is 37.31 km long. The final leg is on Saturday 27: start at 8.15 am and finish at 5 pm.
Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Drivers’ standings
1. Garcia-Ojeda (Peugeot) Spain, 39 points; 2. Navarra (Abarth) Italy and Vouilloz (Peugeot) France, 32; 4. Rossetti (Peugeot) Italy, 20; 5. Basso (Abarth) Italy, 18; 6. Alen (Abarth) Finland, 15; 7. Casier (Peugeot) Belgium, 13; 8. Scandola (Abarth) Italy, 9.
Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Team standings
1. Peugeot, 96 points; 2. Abarth 79; 3. Mitsubishi 47; 4. Citroen 4.
Abarth Oro Diesel Trophy standings
1. Alessio Pisi and Tiziano Nerobutto, 24 points; 3. Gianni Martellucci, 21; 4. Dimitri Brunello, 11; 5. Davide Di Benedetto, Diego Fornaciari and Umberto Consigli, 10.
Turin, October 24, 2007
International
