Rally Due Valli 2016 - Basso is champion!

© BRCThey've earned the victory. There's going to be a celebration!

There were three pairings who could have come out with the championship from the 34^th Rally Due Valli in one of the tightest season conclusions ever – Basso/Granai (80,75 pts after the previous round, the Rally di Roma Capitale), Andreucci/Andreussi (80 pts) and Scandola/D'Amore (74 pts). Incidentally, it was also a struggle among three car manufacturers, as each crew drove a different car – a Ford Fiesta R5, a Peugeot 208 T16 R5 and a Skoda Fabia R5, respectively. Simone Campedelli and Danilo Fappani on their autogas-powered Ford Fiesta R5 were obviously also there and hungry for additional points in their debut season, especially having experienced a below-par performance at the Rally di Roma Capitale.

The constructor championship was also to be decided at Due Vialli, but with Ford leading the charts at 105,25 points, nearly 14 points over Peugeot and almost 29 ahead of Skoda, competition wasn't quite as close and among drivers and Basso's second place, augmented by Campedelli's points (he was third overall, just 2 seconds after the winner), was perfectly enough for the Blue Oval to secure victory.

Basso and Granai were in the lead after day one of the rally, but made a mistake at the beginning of day two that could have cost them everything. Fortunately, they remained concentrated for the remainder of the day, thus managing to defend a second place overall. Some help came from rivals themselves, who made their errors, too. The victory comes as an award after three years of blood, sweat and tears on the part of Giandomenico Basso and Lorenzo Granai, but also the entire crew at BRC Racing Team. Congratulations to everybody involved! Get some rest and celebrate, but then come back for more rally thrills – our thirst has not been quenched...