Rallye du Valais: Two foreigners ahead of Michael Burri
RALLY The Italian Giandomenico Basso won the 58th Rally International du Valais in a Hyundai i20 R5. After a turbulent second day, Michael Burri finished third and best Swiss on the podium. Until the eleventh special stage, the fourth on Saturday's second leg, it looked like Dutchman Kevin Abbrin would win ahead of Olivier [...]
Until the eleventh special stage, the fourth on Saturday's second leg, it looked like Dutchman Kevin Abbrin would win ahead of Olivier Burri. The former Hyundai WRC driver from the Netherlands led with his Ford Fiesta R5 by almost 40 seconds ahead of the surprisingly strong veteran from Belprahon on a rented Skoda Fabia R5.
On the longest special stage, SS Les Cols (32.75 km), Burri rolled over and Abbring, who had started behind him, retired after a harmless ride with a broken tie rod. So the Italian Giandomenico Basso on a Hyundai NG i20 R5 moved to the top. On the previous day, he had survived a hair-raising situation due to an error in the write-up, but with a loss of time.
Last year's winner and Swiss champion Sébastien Carron retired already in the fourth SS with an electronic problem on the Ford Fiesta R5 of Balbosca. His teammate Daniel Sieber also had to retire after only two stages due to the same defect.
After Carron's retirement, the fastest Swiss would have been 23-year-old Jérémie Toedtli from Neuchâtel in a Skoda Fabia R5.
However, the currently greatest rally talent from Switzerland received a justified and a second, disputed time penalty of one minute each because his co-driver allegedly clocked in too early on both occasions.
Second place overall thus went to Belgian Bernd Casier, third to Michael Burri and his French co-driver Anderson Levratti, both on Ford Fiesta R5.
For Olivier Burri's son, this is the biggest rally success to date. By winning the national classification ahead of Jérémie Toedtli (4th) and Nicolas Althaus (5th), Burri secured the desired third shot at the 2017 Swiss Rally Championship behind Sébastien Carron and Ivan Ballinari from Ticino, who was absent in Valais.
