Rally del Friulli 2015 - Basso on the box

© BRCFinishing third and progressing in the general standings can't be bad, but having won 5 out of 11 special stages Basso and Granai must have hoped for more

Basso began his sixth rally of the 2015 season better than well – he won 5 out of 11 special stages. Unfortunately, a punctured tyre prevented him from finishing higher than third. Victory was taken by Paolo Andreucci driving a Peugeot 208 T16 R5. He and his co-driver, Anna Andreussi, have thus gained extra advance over their rivals and lead the standings by a wide margin of points.

Still, having finished third in Rally del Friulli Venezia Giulia, Basso and Granai have progressed to place two in the general standings of the 2015 season of the Italian Rally Championship. Umberto Scandola, until before this rally second overall, dropped to place three as he only managed to drive his Skoda Fabia R5 to 18^th spot.

Giandomenico Basso was quite openly bitter over having been beaten by bad luck again. However, he noted the LDI (Liquid Direct Injection) autogas system of his car proved durable and reliable despite heat pouring from the sky throughout the rally. While it is probably too late for Basso to take leadership and win the season from Andreucci, let's hope he'll keep his second spot in the rallies to come. Stay tuned!

General standings of the 51^st Rally del Friulli Venezia Giulia:

1. Andreucci/Andreussi (Peugeot 208 T16 R5) – 1:35'40.3,
2. Perico/Turati (Peugeot 208 T16 R5) – 1'21.6 behind,
3. Basso/Granai (Ford Fiesta R5 LDI) – 3'17.5 behind.

General standings of the 2015 season of the Italian Rally Championship:

1. Paolo Andreucci – 74 pts,
2. Giandomenico Basso – 42 pts,
3. Umberto Scandola – 35 pts.