Basso´s confidence grows on IRC opener

Giandomenico Basso, the winner of four Intercontinental Rally Challenge rounds since 2007, is growing in confidence as he adapts to the Peugeot 207 S2000 that he is driving for the first time on the Rallye Monte-Carlo this week.

Basso, a long-time Abarth factory driver, has not driven a rally car other than a Grande Punto S2000 for five years – but he is quickly getting to grips with his new French-built machine, financed on the centenary edition of the event by a group of private sponsors from Italy.

“I’m not getting the most out of the set-up here because I don’t want to make any big alterations, just in order to learn the basic characteristics of the car,” said the Italian. “We’re driving every stage in different conditions with a different type of tyre, so it’s hard to get a real feel for it. But my confidence is growing and the feeling is coming.”

Basso was delayed by two punctures on Wednesday afternoon, but had a trouble-free run on Thursday morning.

He is one of 79 crews set to start the afternoon loop of two stages, the first of which had a coating of snow towards the finish after ambient temperatures dipped to below freezing.