Italians Luca Rossetti and Matteo Chiarcossi (Abarth Grande Punto) are the winners of the 38th Rally Croatia, second round of the FIA European Rally Championship. The reigning European champions led fellow countrymen Luca Betti and Maurizio Barone (Peugeot 207) and Polish Maciej Oleksowicz - Andrzej Obrebowski (Ford). With this result the Italian crew, which had also won the opening round of the series, scores full points and leads the continental ranking. Slovenian Rok Turk (Peugeot 207 R3T) won the two-wheel drive cars ranking and take the lead of the specific standings. Winners of Gr R and Gr.N were respectively Maciej Rzeznik - Przemyslaw Mazur (Subaru Impreza) and Mauro Patrucco - Chiara Bioletti (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX).
In the third and final day of competition Luca Rossetti further increased his lead by winning almost all the special stages (the final total is of 10 stage wins against 3 for Betti and one each for Oleksowicz and Szymon Ruta with the Peugeot 207). A great fight for third position between Oleksowicz and Longhi (Skoda). The Polish driver managed to get past his rival before the latter was forced to retire because of the consequences of going off the road on the penultimate special stage, held in the rain.
Once again it is worth to mention the performances, often in the Top 5, of Croatian Juraj Sebali (Mitsubishi), although he is far behind in the overall standings because of the nearly 20' lost in the first two days of competition. Another excellent race by Niko Pulic (Abarth Grande Punto), the best of the local drivers, who finished seventh overall.
The final overall ranking of the Top 10 in the race and the FIA European Rally Championship are:
TOP 10
Pos.
No
Driver / Co-driver
Vehicle
Total Time
Diff.Leader
Diff.Prev.
1
1
Rossetti Luca / Chiarcossi Matteo
Fiat Grande Punto S2000
02:21:09.1
00:00:00.0
00:00:00.0
2
5
Betti Luca / Barone Maurizio
Peugeot 207 S2000
02:22:51.2
00:01:42.1
00:01:42.1
3
7
Oleksowicz Maciej / Obrebowski Andrzej
Ford Fiesta S2000
02:24:01.0
00:02:51.9
00:01:09.8
4
6
Iliev Dimitar / Yanakiev Yanaki
Škoda Fabia S2000
02:25:33.6
00:04:24.5
00:01:32.6
5
12
Ruta Szymon / Rozwadowski Sebastian
Peugeot 207 S2000
02:27:14.2
00:06:05.1
00:01:40.6
6
3
TlusÅ¥ák Antonín / Škaloud Jan
Škoda Fabia S2000
02:28:09.9
00:07:00.8
00:00:55.7
7
10
PuliÄ Niko / ŠantiÄ Bruno
Fiat Grande Punto S2000
02:28:15.0
00:07:05.9
00:00:05.1
8
15
Rzeznik Maciej / Mazur Przemyslaw
Subaru Impreza STI R4
02:29:40.2
00:08:31.1
00:01:25.2
9
18
Turk Rok / Ložnar Kranjc Enej
Peugeot 207 R3T
02:34:32.7
00:13:23.6
00:04:52.5
10
11
Bossalini Elia / Mangiarotti Daniele
Peugeot 207 S2000
02:35:48.4
00:14:39.3
00:01:15.7
European Rally Championship RANKING:
Driver: 1. Luca ROSSETTI 85 p.; 2. Luca Betti 47; 3. Maciej OLEKSOWICZ; 4. Renato Travaglia 28; 5. Dimitar ILIEV 26.
Driver 2WD: 1. Rok TURK 67 p.; 2. Stefano Albertini 39; 3. Giovanni VERGNANO 35; 4. Marco Signor 28; 5. Andrea Dallavilla 2.
Press Office: Croatia RALLY
Foto: Croatia RALLY
ADK Team: ADK MC