DAY REPORT: 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, round 12 of 13

Giandomenico Basso has followed in the wheel tracks of rallying legend Colin McRae by winning Rallye Sanremo for a second time. The result, his sixth victory in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, followed a dominant performance on the asphalt event at the wheel of an M-Sport Ford Fiesta RRC.






A storming drive through the gruelling 44-kilometre Ronde night stage has put Giandomenico Basso 25.6s clear in the battle for victory on the legendary Rallye Sanremo, the penultimate round of the all-action Intercontinental Rally Challenge in Italy.
The Intercontinental Rally Challenge heads to Rallye Sanremo and the Italian Riviera next week for the final all-asphalt event of the 2012 season. And with the outcome of the coveted IRC drivers’ crown still far from settled, a thrilling battle is expected when the action gets underway on Friday 12 October.
The Atlantic archipelago will host the first rally of the 13-round IRC season from 23-25 February and event bosses are keen to make a big impact. “Maybe we will have a new circuit in the town [of Porta Delgada],” said Francisco Rosa Coelho, president of the event organiser Grupo Desportivo Comercial. “We are trying to do that to be different because it’s an honour to open the IRC and we want the success of our event to be the success of the IRC.”






A thrilling contest is in store when Rallye Sanremo hosts the final all-asphalt event of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge season next week.

The Peugeot UK driver fought back from fourth place overnight to take the lead on the final morning in the mountains on the Italian Riviera. Despite the pounding given to his brakes on the twisting asphalt stages, he prevailed for his fourth win of the season to become the first British driver to win the IRC.