SS9: Bouffier fights back into contention

Thierry Neuville was again fastest

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24 September 2011 - 11:41

The battle for victory on Rallye Sanremo is shaping up to be a thrilling four-way fight following the event’s ninth stage, which ended with the leading quartet of drivers separated by 10.0s.

Thierry Neuville was again fastest in his Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg 207 Super 2000 to move to within 4.9s of overall leader Andreas Mikkelsen. The ŠKODA UK Motorsport driver was 7.7s slower through the stage. His advantage over second-placed BFO-ŠKODA’s Freddy Loix is now down to 1.3s with one stage of the morning loop remaining.

Bryan Bouffier, in a Peugeot France 207 (pictured), completed the 18.80-kilometre Passo Teglia test 1.1s slower than Neuville as he steps up his bid to claim his second victory in this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The Rallye Monte-Carlo winner is fourth overall, 10.0s behind Mikkelsen.

Overall positions after SS9

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
1	Mikkelsen Andreas / Floene Ola	Škoda Fabia S2000	1h45m29.9s
2	Loix Freddy / Miclotte F.	Škoda Fabia S2000	+1.3s
3	Neuville T. / Gilsoul Nicolas	Peugeot 207 S2000	+4.9s
4	Bouffier Bryan / Panseri Xavier	Peugeot 207 S2000	+10.0s
5	Kopecký Jan / Starý Petr	Škoda Fabia S2000	+33.2s
6	Magalhães Bruno / Grave Paulo	Peugeot 207 S2000	+57.6s
7	Scandola Umberto / D’Amore Guido	Ford Fiesta S2000	+57.9s
8	Perico Alessandro / Carrara Fabrizio	Peugeot 207 S2000	+2m56.6s
9	Campana Pierre / De Castelli Sabrina	Peugeot 207 S2000	+3m21.1s
10	Gardemeister Toni / Suominen Tapio	Škoda Fabia S2000	+4m23.4s
11	Basso Giandomenico / Dotta Mitia	Proton Satria Neo S2000	+5m38.8s
12	Hotz Grégoire / Ravasi Pietro	Peugeot 207 S2000	+5m56.5s
13	Medici Davide / De Luis Daniele	Renault Clio S1600	+6m22.1s
14	Albertini Stefano / Scattolin Simone	Renault Clio R3	+6m55.4s
15	Guglielmi Pierre Antoine / Porcu Jean François	Renault Clio R3	+7m12.9s