Francois Delecour and Fabrice Gordon made the 306 Maxi’s power and agility pay off.
Words by James Downie for Rally Media UK, Images supplied courtesy of Mark Standley.
San Romolo, Vignai, Bajardo, Langan, Colle D’Oggia, Pont Dei Passi: Evocative and iconic stage names if you’re of a certain generation. These were the classics from heyday of the Sanremo Rally, when the likes of Rohrl, Alen, Vatanen, Toivonen, Mouton, Blomqvist and Mikkola would roar up and down these Italian mountain passes in the middle of the night in epic struggles for WRC glory. The WRC version of the Sanremo is of course no more. It was deemed to close to the Monte both geographically and in nature but it is fitting that these amazing roads still see high class action in the European and European Historic Rally Championships.
This year the Sanremo Rally Storico was the final round of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship for Pre-2000 and Pre-1992 cars.
The entry was quality. Jari-Matti Latvala and Francois Delecour need no introductions. They have 22 WRC Rally wins between them and started at 1 and 3 in a Toyota Celica Turbo and Peugeot 306 Maxi respectively. Ghislain De Mevius was at 2 whilst at 4 was another vastly experienced former WRC competitor, Freddy Loix. The Belgian pair were in a Subaru Impreza 555 and Toyota Corolla WRC. Pre 92 Championship favourite Maciej Lubiak was at 6 in the Porsche 911 with Welshman Osian Pryce at 8 in the Ford Escort RS.
Maciej Lubiak sealed the pre-92 EHRC Championship with 2nd overall in Sanremo.
The opening test on Friday was the 10km San Romolo-Ghimbegna. A narrow twisting mountain pass with armco barriers and stone walls protecting crews from the big drops, often prone to foul weather, but this year it was warm and dry, if a little murky and autumnal. Delecour and Fabrice Gordon were immediately quickest from De Mevius and Johan Jalet. Latvala and Japanese co-driver Tomiya Maekawa were a full 8 seconds back in 3rd. Lubiak was 4th and driving within himself, the Pole knowing what he needed to do to secure the title. German Jonas Tischner’s BMW M3 was 5th and 6 time Sanremo storico winner Lucien De Zanche’s Porsche was 6th.
SS2 was another classic piece of Sanremo road and was around 12 miles of twisting alpine asphalt. The Vignai stage would have low average speeds compared to the prevoius round in Ceredigion as the cars would barely get out of 3rd gear. Despite driving within himself, the superior traction of Lubiak’s Porsche out of the hairpins allowed the championship leader to stop the clocks 0.7 seconds faster than Delecour to take fastest time and move into 2nd overall. De Mevius and Latvala were over 20 seconds slower. A brilliant effort from Osian Pryce and Dale Furniss (who will be sitting with Osian’s rival for the BRC, Meirion Evans on next weekend’s Cambrian Rally) saw them haul the Escort up 7 places to 11th overall amongst all this far more powerful and advanced machinery. Osian won the Roger Albert Clark Rally in this very car less than 11 months ago. It was designed for British Forests but not for these roads so he was having to work very hard to stay in touch.
Next up was another classic: Langan. The stage started low and climbed to 1100 metres above sea level via a staircase of hairpins and dropped back down the other side of the mountain, finishing 12 miles later. It was the exact kind of road the F2 Kit cars were built for and Delecour, in his light, powerful and agile 306 Maxi took full command of the rally with a time 12 seconds quicker than De Mevius and 18 quicker than Lubiak. After 3 stages he led by 27 seconds and it was already clear that nobody was going to get near him barring problems.
Final stage of the opening loop was Baijardo, yet another iconic road. This was less than 5 miles long but it was another steep and twisty climb. Lubiak set fastest time here, but Delecour could still be pleased with his morning’s work and led by 20 seconds at service, with almost a minute covering the top 5 already, with Lubiak followed by De Mevius, Da Zanche and Latvala. The grip levels were very changeable in the Autumnal conditions with fallen leaves making the surface slippery in places. Tyre management was of key importance.
Jari-Matti Latvala’s Toyota Celica was fast but over 13 minutes of penalties meant he could finish no higher than 10th overall.
The same four stages were repeated in the afternoon. Delecour stretched his lead to 34 seconds over San Romolo but Latvala and Freddie Loix/Pieter Tsjoen in the Toyotas went much quicker this time to climb the leaderboard, and De Mevius got to within 2 seconds of Lubiak.
The Vignai stage clearly suited the Porsche and its driver, as Lubiak again went fastest in the stable and aerodynamic mid engined German sportscar, beating the howling French machine of Delecour by an incredible 19 seconds. The stage claimed two of the top 10 runners, a big accident putting out Da Zanche’s Porsche and causing the stage to be stopped, but not before Alessandro Gino’s BMW broke its gearbox. These misfortune’s promoted Osian Pryce to 9th and Ireland’s Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy into 10th in his Impreza.
Langen 2 saw further retirements amongst the front runners, with mechanical issues now sidlining Ghislain De Mevius’s 3rd placed Subaru Impreza. Latvala moved up to 3rd and Loix was into 4th with Jonas Tischner’s BMW M3 now into the top 5. Another British crew joined the top 10 now, with Will and Karen Graham’s M3 on the leaderboard.
Freddie Loix and Pieter Tsjoen were 3rd after benefitting from the high number of retirements.
Bajardo completed Friday’s action, and it was getting dark, with the temperature up in the mountains now dropping significantly. Latvala was second fastest to Lubiak but disaster was about to strike the Finn’s Toyota. Work was needed to repair the gearbox directly after the stage and the resulting 12 minute penalty dropped them from 3rd to 14th overnight. Everyone behind moved up another place. The technical mountain roads had proved to be tough on the historic cars, and it had been a good day for those who kept out of trouble. Osian Pryce for example would end the day 7th overall, despite the gap of 4m21s to Delecour highlighting just how outclassed a Mark 2 Escort is by a 306 Maxi on stages of this nature. Alan Ring’s Impreza was a further 3 and a half minutes back in 8th, and Will Graham 9th.
Overnight leaderboard:
1 Delecour/Gordon 1h21m28.0s
2 Lubiak/Dachowski +29.6s
3 Loix/Tsjoen +2m53.0s
4 “Zippo”/Arena +3.13.0
5 Tischner/Carl +3.18.2
6 Scipper/Krieger +3.35.3
7 Pryce/Furniss +4.21.1
8 Ring/Deasy +7.45.9
9 Graham/Graham +8.09.3
10 Van Smeede/Berk +10.30.6
There were just 2 stages on Saturday, but both were classics from the WRC era Sanremo. Col d’Oggia and Ponte de Passei, the latter being a 15 mile sting in the tail. With the main business at the front taken care of, Delecour cruised through to win the rally, whilst Lubiak cruised through to finish 2nd in the rally and clinch the pre-92 championship. Loix secured 3rd overall in the Corolla WRC.
The main highlight of the final day was Latvala, who, in spite of another 80 second penalty in the morning, moved from 14th back into 10th overall by winning both stages, demonstrating how quick the Celica is when firing properly. Latvala could have grabbed 2nd on stage time alone. There was still time for Marc Schippers’s Impreza 555 to retire and elevate Pryce into the top 6 at the finish, with Ring 7th and Graham an impressive 8th.
Osian Pryce and Dale Furniss stayed out of trouble and climbed to 6th in the Escort as the more advanced cars broke.
The Sanremo Storico provided a wonderful nostalgia fest, with classic and iconic stages and some beautiful machinery from rallying history. It was also a tough and unforgiving rally which really tested cars and crews, and was a fitting end to a great season.
Final Results:
1 F. Delecour/F.Gordon Peugeot 306 Maxi 1h49m24.0s
2 M.Lubiak/G.Dachowski Porsche 911 Carrera +56s
3 F.Loix/P.Tsjoen Toyota Corolla WRC +3m07s
4 “Zippo”/N.Arena Subaru Impreza 555 +3.26.9
5 J.Tischner/J.Carl BMW M3 +3.59.2
6 O.Pryce/D.Furniss Ford Escort RS +6.01.0
7 A.Ring/A.Deasy Subaru Impreza 555 +9.42.8
8 W.Graham/K.Graham BMW M3 +10.55.1
9 M.Karlowski/L.Stengl Opel Ascona 400 +13.40.8
10 J-M. Latvala/T.Maekowa Toyota Celica Turbo +13.56.4 (includes 13m03s penalties).
European Historic Rally Championship pre-1992 Final Standings
1 Maciej Lubiak 178 points
2 Seb Perez 149
3 Enrico Brazzolli 111
4 Osian Pryce 100
5 Renato Travaglia 90
