Rally-SM: Ballinari ahead of second title
TESSINERS WITHOUT ANY OPPONENTS Only three Swiss teams competed for points at the Rally Valli Ossolane in northern Italy. After the victory, the crown is hardly to be taken away from Ivan Ballinari. For years, the interest of Swiss rally drivers in runs in Italy has left a lot to be desired. As another (and probably last) attempt, those responsible at Auto [...]
For years, the interest of Swiss rally drivers in races in Italy has left a lot to be desired. As a further (and probably last) attempt, those responsible at Auto Sport Schweiz chose the Rally Valli Ossolane in the Domodossola area, an event not far from the Swiss border. Nevertheless, they were again unsuccessful, with only three teams registering.
Inappropriate criticism of the organizer
This negative record was not least due to the fact that certain circles not well-disposed towards the Ticino co-organizer branded the "Valli Ossolani" in advance as poorly organized and uninteresting. Only the two championship leaders Ivan Ballinari and Jean-Marc Salomon, as well as Cédric Betschen, leader in the Rally Cup, took the opportunity to further extend their lead in the SM standings.
The absentees are wrong
Their calculation worked out, even though the points in the overall standings were halved in accordance with the rules. Those who stayed home, on the other hand, have to ask themselves whether they would have been better off not listening to the negative propaganda. All the more so as the traditional Italian event, which 17 years ago had already counted as part of the Rallye-SM, in its latest edition was definitely championship worthy and professionally organized. At the request of the Swiss sports authorities, the organizer even increased the total number of special stages to 120 kilometers.
Ballinari good fourth
The three Swiss teams were also unanimous in this opinion. With strong local competition (two WRC and twelve R5 cars, a total of 113 participants) and in front of an impressive crowd of spectators, they had a lot of fun and did not leave it at a compulsory exercise. In particular, reigning champion Ivan Ballinari was always among the front runners in his Skoda Fabia R5, but without risking his shirt in view of the SM points at stake. With a gap of two and a half minutes to the winning brand colleague Davide Caffoni, the man from Ticino finally finished in a good fourth place.
Solomon and Betschen respectable
Jean-Marc Salomon had more trouble with the typical Italian course (mostly narrow, extremely winding roads, many hairpins, chicanes on longer straights to slow down the pace), but got better and better into his stride and finally finished eleventh in his R5 Fiesta. Cédric Betschen was also confronted with strong competition in his Group N Clio, but he lost less than ten seconds to the two Italian Renault drivers in front of him despite having far less knowledge of the track.
Only two drivers left in the title race
Thanks to an additional 22.5 points, Ivan Ballinari is now 43.5 points ahead of Salomon. Only the man from Jura still has the mathematical possibility of thwarting the Ticino's successful title defense. Michaël Burri is already 69.5 points behind in third place, and a total of only 67 will be distributed at the Ronde del Ticino on September 7 and the Valais final in October. Even if one assumes that Ballinari will probably forego the Rallye du Valais for financial reasons, the pure amateur Salomon would have to deliver a top ranking at each of the two remaining rallies in order to overtake "Bally". Given his level of driving skills, this is not a realistic expectation.
Report and photos: Jürg Kaufmann
