CIAR | Basso on Toyota wins the Piedmont Region Rally

Piedmont, a land rich in rallies and motorsport history, was the perfect backdrop to the first victory of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 in the Italian Absolute Rally Championship with a strong and expert crew, the one formed by Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai.

The Vicenza native, precise and fast as has often happened in his long and prolific career, was perfect in the 10 special tests that made up the second event of the CIAR 2024. He put a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the reigning Italian champion, Andrea Crugnola, and he picked up the baton when his rival made the only but important mistake of the weekend.

The race had its big turning point on SS7, the 14.10 kilometer Loazzolo – Santo Stefano 1, when Crugnola – who was testing with a decent lead over Basso himself – made a mistake and ended up off the road. The Citroen C3 Rally2 number 1 managed by the FPF Sport team did not suffer any damage, but the Italian still lost almost 3 minutes in an attempt to return to practice quickly.

At that point Basso had to do nothing but manage his advantage against a solid and experienced Stéphane Lefebvre. The Frenchman, at the wheel of the Citroen C3 Rally2 which remained in the top ranks after Crugnola's off-road crash, tried to close the gap that separated him from Basso, but to no avail.

In the end Basso won with a margin of 3″1 over the Alps, while the podium was surprisingly finished by Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton on Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. Surprisingly because until the last test Bostjan Avbelj occupied third position, but a mistake in the last special stage of the event led him to crash and, consequently, to the bitterest of retirements.

However, Campedelli was good at putting pressure on his opponent, achieving the desired result at the end of the match. Furthermore, the Romagna native also came close to second place, finishing just 1 second behind Lefebvre.

Just off the podium was Marco Signor navigated by Daniele Michi, while the Top 5 was completed by Giacomo Scattolon ahead of the 11-time Italian champion Paolo Andreucci. The Tuscan also made a nice gesture, stopping at the end of the 14.82 kilometer SS6 Vesime 1 to try to help Luca Bottarelli extinguish the flames from his damaged car. Unfortunately, not even Paolo's help was of any use, because Bottarelli's car was destroyed by flames.

Bitter rally also for Andrea Nucita. The Sicilian, at the wheel of a Hyundai i20 N Rally2, was in the midst of the fight for victory with Crugnola and Basso when on SS4, the 11.95 kilometer Diano d'Alba 1, he made a mistake shortly after a jump, ending long in a fairly tight right-hand curve.

Nucita's Hyundai, landed by the jump, had no room to turn and went up a small hill, subsequently being catapulted into the road, overturning. The car, after a couple of evolutions, ended up tumbling to the other side of the road, on a slight slope which brought it to a stop. Fortunately, both Andrea and co-driver Rudy Pollet emerged from the cockpit unharmed.

With this result, Giandomenico Basso becomes the new leader of the CIAR 2024 thanks to the victory at the Piedmont Region Rally and the second place obtained a few weeks ago at the Il Ciocco and Valle del Serchio Rally.

Also noteworthy is the presence of Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen on the official Hyundai i20 N Rally1. The Norwegian crew and the Alzenau team did not appear in the ranking – considered transparent for CIAR purposes – but they still carried out all the tests to prepare for the upcoming Rally Croatia, the fourth round of the 2024 WRC which will be held next week.

CIAR 2024 – Piedmont Region Rally – Final classification