Abarth driver Giandomenico Basso has won the Sanremo Rally for the first time in his career to move up to second place overall in the IRC standings with two rounds left to go. The Italian took the lead on the 59.66-kilometre Ronde stage on Thursday night, and did not lose it for the remainder of the rally. Having also claimed victory on the previous IRC round in Spain, Basso underlined the speed and reliability of his Grande Punto with another flawless run on home territory in Italy.

The third and final day of the Sanremo Rally consisted of four stages, split into two loops of two stages with service in between at the seafront in Sanremo. Weather conditions remained dry, although the day got off to a cloudy start. In total, the crews covered 86.44 competitive kilometres during the final leg.

Second place on the Italian event for Peugeot Belgium's Nicolas Vouilloz has extended the Frenchman's lead of the IRC drivers' standings to 18 points (prior to dropped scores being taken into account) and also wrapped up the 2008 manufacturers' title for Peugeot. Vouilloz claimed the runner-up spot after a dramatic fightback on the final day, which he started in fourth position behind his team mate Freddy Loix. On the first stage of the day he passed Loix for third, before getting past Peugeot Italy's Luca Rossetti on the penultimate stage to claim second at the finish.

Rossetti, the winner in Sanremo last year, was more than happy with third place, as this enabled him to claim his first Italian Championship title. The Italian experienced a few set-up problems that caused understeer on the opening two days of the rally but just concentrated on bringing his car home safely during the final day.

Loix settled for fourth place after his car developed a transmission problem on the final loop of stages, which meant that the Belgian only had two wheel drive. He finished ahead of former European Champion Renato Travaglia in fifth, who dropped time with some incorrect tyre choices earlier in the event. With a big gap to former Sanremo winner Alessandro Perico in sixth, Travaglia used the final part of the rally to test some different set-ups.

Italian Championship frontrunner Luca Cantamessa was seventh in a privateer Peugeot, while Abarth factory driver Anton Alen claimed the final drivers' point in eighth place. Mitsubishi driver Paolo Andreucci was unlucky to miss out on a good finish after losing a lot of time with a puncture on the final day.

The IRC 2WD Cup was won by Alessandro Bettega, the son of the legendary Attilio Bettega, in a Honda Civic Type R R3, ahead of the similar car of Luca Ghegin. Bettega now leads the IRC 2WD Cup. Former IRC 2WD Cup points leader Marco Cavigioli finished outside of the top eight in his Fiat Grande Punto Diesel and did not score points, meaning that Yagiz Avci in a similar car has closed up to him in the overall standings.

Several incidents and accidents characterised this 50th anniversary edition of the Sanremo Rally, underlining the difficulty of the all-asphalt route. The longest stage of the event and the entire IRC, Ronde, was cancelled on Thursday night after Sandro Sottile crashed his Yokohama-equipped Peugeot 207 S2000 and blocked the stage. On the same stage, Abarth's rally leader Umberto Scandola ripped off a wheel and retired while his team mate Andrea Navarra stopped with a broken gearbox. The same problem affected the privateer Grande Punto of 1994 World Rally Champion Didier Auriol. Day two saw the Volkswagen Polo S2000 of Bernd Casier crash out of a points-scoring eighth place.

IRC FINAL RESULTS AFTER SS12, SANREMO RALLY (ITALY)

1Basso/Dotta Abarth Grande Punto S2000 2h56m25.4s
2 Vouilloz/Klinger Peugeot 207 S2000 +42.6s
3 Rossetti/Chiarcossi Peugeot 207 S2000 +1m09.3s
4 Travaglia/Granai Abarth Grande Punto S2000 +2m20.9s
5 Loix/Buysmans Peugeot 207 S2000 +3m04.8s
6 Perico/Carrara Peugeot 207 S2000 +4m35.4s
7 Cantamessa/Capolongo Peugeot 207 S2000 +5m44.2s
8 Alen/Alanne Abarth Grande Punto S2000 +6m01.1s
9Torlasco/Brega Peugeot 207 S2000 +6m11.1s
10 Andreucci/Andreussi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo +7m22.7s

Two-wheel drive winner: Alessandro Bettega (Honda Civic Type R R3)

STANDINGS

Drivers

1 Vouilloz 60
2 Basso 42
3 Loix 39
4 Rossetti 38
5 Travaglia 19
6 Alen 18
7 Kopecky 15
8 Hanninen 14
9 Bouffier & Camacho 6
11 Casier & Valousek & Ojeda 5

Manufacturers

1 Peugeot 131 (2008 champion manufacturer, subject to final confirmation)
2 Abarth 79
3 Mitsubishi 10