ERC – Bryan Bouffier snatches victory in Italy

In their time, at the height of their rivalry, Sébastien Loeb and Marcus Grönholm offered a splendid duel in New Zealand in 2007, the Finn winning with his Ford Focus RS WRC for three tenths against the Frenchman.

A tiny gap, the same one that today allowed another French pilot, Bryan Bouffier, to win the Rally di Roma Capitale in Italy, counting for the European Rally Championship ERC. The Gemini Clinic Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5 driver beat his Polish rival Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Ford Fiesta R5) to the finish on the trans roadsalpines.

Leader last night at the end of the first stage, the Frenchman immediately conceded more than nine seconds in SS7 this Sunday, after a choice of tires that were too soft, leaving control of the race to Kajetanowicz for a little more than 2 ″.

The reigning double European champion then widened the gap slightly until SS10, where Bouffier suddenly regained 3″7, enough to regain the advantage by four tenths. “Kajto”'s response came in the following sector where the Pole was ahead of Bouffier by nine tenths and took the lead in the standings by five tenths before the final SS.

And over the 11.75 km of Altipiani-Guarcino, Bryan Bouffier finally made the decisive effort to achieve the scratch and precede Kajetanowicz by eight tenths and therefore win by three tenths at the finish. Brun Magalhaes (Skoda Fabia R5) completes the podium at over 57″.

Grzegorz Grzyb (Skoda Fabia R5) finished in fourth position ahead of Simone Tempestini (Citroën DS3 R5). Jan Cerny (Skoda Fabia R5) follows in the standings ahead of Lukasz Habaj (Ford Fiesta R5), Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia R5), Stéphane Consani (Ford Fiesta R5) and Tonino di Cosimo (Skoda Fabia R5).

Romain Dumas (Porsche 911 R-GT) termine 23e après avoir perdu beaucoup de temps dans l’ES7 suite à une crevaison.

Final ranking

Discover the report of the Rally Roma di Capitale in issue 2132 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.