| Stages |
: |
6 (3 repeated) 129.64 km |
| Surface |
: |
soft and fine gravel, abrasive base surface |
| Weather |
: |
Hot and dry all day, temperatures in the region of 28° centigrade |
|
Suzuki Swift driver Guy Wilks has a lead of nearly a minute and a
half in the Junior World Championship classification at the end of
leg one in Italy. A Suzuki won all of today’s six stages, despite
some very rough and demanding conditions. His team mate P-G Andersson
was forced to retire from leg one on SS5, following an unfortunate
series of punctures. Estonian driver Urmo Aava took an early lead in
his Swift, before dropping to fifth place as a result of a puncture.
News from the leading Suzuki driver:
 Guy
Wilks (1st in JWRC): “It’s been a very tough
day, with the conditions even more harsh than we expected. When the
gravel clears, there is an extremely hard and rocky base on the stages – which
is very tough on tyres. My only real moment was on SS5 when I hit a
very large rock that damaged the sump guard. Despite this there was
no problems, the Swift is a very tough car.”
Other news from Suzuki:
 P-G
Andersson was held back by a slow puncture on the very first stage
of the rally, but worse was to follow in the afternoon. The Swede picked
up two punctures on SS5, which made the car extremely difficult to
control as he entered a fast right-hand bend after a bumpy downhill
section. P-G’s car went off the road during the corner, and was
stuck in an embankment. The team is currently assessing whether or
not he will be able to re-start tomorrow under the Super Rally regulations.
News from “Monster” Tajima:
 “After
an excellent win in Argentina, Guy has again driven a brilliant first
leg of the rally here in Italy. This is a rally that is won by driving
with your head as much as your right foot, and Guy has judged the compromise
between speed and safety perfectly. Despite some very rough conditions – as
we expected – our cars have been perfectly reliable, which is
encouraging as there is still a very long way to go. Just as important
as being reliable, the car is fast – we won all six stages, which
underlines the overall speed of the package. ”
Junior World Rally Championship classification at end
of leg one, Rally d’Italia:
1 Guy Wilks (Suzuki Swift) 1h45m06.6s
2 Patrick Sandell (Renault Clio) +1m24.2s
3 Conrad Rautenbach (Renault Clio) +4m18.4s
4 Aaron Burkart (Citroen C2) +5m36.6s
5 Urmo Aava (Suzuki Swift) +5m41.4s
6 Julien Pressac (Citroen C2) +5m43.3s
7 Martin Prokop (Citroen C2) +6m05.0s
8 Brice Tirabassi (Citroen C2) +9m46.6s
11 P-G Andersson (Suzuki Swift) +11m10.6s
|
