Andreucci not taking risks in Sanremo

Paolo Andreucci believes he stands a greater chance of winning Rallye Sanremo than rival Giandomenico Basso because he is not taking the same amount of risks as the Abarth Grande Punto pilot.

Andreucci holds a slender 0.9s margin over Basso after eight stages in his Peugeot 207 S2000.

As well as battling for glory in the main Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the drivers are in a close battle for the Italian championship. With Basso 11 points adrift of Andreucci in the domestic classification, he must defeat his countryman this weekend to boost his title hopes.

“For me second is a good result providing it is Basso who is first and not [Luca] Rossetti because he is not so close in the championship like Rossetti is,” said Andreucci at the mid-morning service halt in Sanremo. “If we continue like this that it is fine and I will not need to take the risks that Bassos is taking. It is important to finish like this.”

Rossetti, who was fastest on stage eight in his Grande Punto, is also firmly in contention for the Italian crown but is 15.5s adrift of Andreucci in the current standings after dropping too much time on Friday’s opening stages.

Basso, meanwhile, has blamed his relatively sluggish performance this morning on a set-up glitch, which has caused his Grande Punto to understeer, particularly on downhill sections.

His co-driver Mitia Dotta said: “It is a problem with the set-up. On every corner the car is wanting to go straight and we can never get the right line. If we can find a good set-up then we can win this rally.”