Andrea Pisano and Salvatore Musselli on Skoda Fabia R5 won the 30th Rally Internazionale Golfo dell'Asinara, second round of the Coppa Rally di Zona 10 and the Regional Championship Delegazione Sardegna Aci Sport. The driver from Osilo finished in 37'47”5 after winning five of the nine special stages (the double passes on the Osilo and San Lorenzo stages held on Saturday and the Codrongianus 1 that opened the day on Sunday).
The second step of the podium was taken by Marino Gessa and Salvatore Pusceddu (Skoda Fabia Rs) at 24”2), who after taking a 10” penalty on Saturday for a delay at the time control and losing 13”2 today on the Codrongianos 1 due to an error, set the best times on the Muros-Ossi 1, on the Usini 1 and on the Codrongianos 2. In third place was another driver from Osilo, Giuseppe Mannu, navigated by Angelo Medas (Skoda Fabia Evo Rally2), at 36”1 from the top. Fourth Antonio Dettori and Marco Demontis (Skoda Fabia Rs Rally2) at 44”, who won the Muros-Ossi 2, a special that was then suspended when a forest fire that broke out in the final stretch of the test made it no longer passable. The crews who used the alternative route were assigned a imposed time. However, a delay accumulated at the start of test number 10 which, also given the high temperatures, led to its cancellation, so the cars headed towards Porto Torres for the awards ceremony.
In fifth place is the “flying lawyer” Maurizio Diomedi, navigated by the Aci Sport regional trustee/delegate Giuseppe Pirisinu (Skoda Fabia Rs Rally2), 1'20” behind. The 18-year-old from Burgos Valentino Ledda, standard-bearer of Aci Team Italia who, with Claudio Mele in the right seat of the Renault Clio, took sixth place overall and first in Rally3 (at 1'31”2). Closing the top 10, Musselli-Frau (Skoda Fabia Rs Rally2) at 1'58”1, Farris-Frau (Skoda Fabia Evo Rally2) at 2'11”0 and the two Lancia Ypsilon Rally4s of Martinis-Boi, first among the “two-wheel drive” at 3'09”5, and of Ricciu-Mazzone (3'14”2), standard-bearers of Aci Team Italia. The crews of the two Lancias, who climbed onto the platform together, wanted to dedicate a touching memory to the late Matteo Doretto, a member of the Italian national team and Italian Junior champion who passed away in Poland a few weeks ago.
In the third Rally Internazionale Golfo dell'Asinara Storico, valid for the Regional Championship Delegation Sardinia Aci Sport, Marco Casalloni and Giovanni Figoni (Peugeot 205 Rally) won after winning all the special stages, with a time of 31'54”6. In second place, at 3'17”4, Enrico Pes di San Vittorio and Nicola Romano (Peugeot 205 Rallye), third Massimo Dasara and Ezio Franchini (Bmw 320) at 4'36”7). Closing the Top5, Ruiu-Alicicco (Alfa Romeo 33) at 5'07”7 and Di Lauro-Nuvoli (Fiat Ritmo Abarth) at 7'52”1. Winner Pisano comments: “I think we reached the maximum, we took off from yesterday to then have a good advantage and manage it today: and it went well for us, because we succeeded despite the tricky tests. We can consider ourselves satisfied: thanks go to my team and my family, to the sponsors who allowed me to take this car and also to the organization, because it put together a fantastic race”. Marino Gessa, second overall, relaunches: “The Skoda Fabia Rs is really beautiful and I had a great time. This morning I made a mistake that cost me 13”, because the car spun, and added to yesterday’s penalty for being late at the time check, it didn’t allow us to recover. But we are very happy. The others were also very fast, we tried everything to catch up with Andrea but that’s okay”. Giuseppe Mannu, third overall, explains: "Yesterday we started quietly, because after eight months of stoppage we needed time to recover the automatic mechanisms. Today it went better, it's a shame we didn't have the feeling we had today yesterday. I congratulate my fellow countryman Andrea Pisano and thank the team for the perfect car". Ledda, sixth overall and first in Rally3, said: "I am satisfied with the race we faced, the expectations were lower. Our first goal was only to win the Rally3 class, not to battle alongside the Rally2s, but we managed to do this too. We need to gain kilometers and experience. As always, I thank all my sponsors, all my friends and my family for the great support". Fabrizio Martinis, ninth overall and first among the “two-wheel drive” relaunches: “When we can we always come to race in Sardinia and we are very happy to be here and to have won the Rally4 class, we wanted to do it for a person dear to us who is no longer with us and we succeeded. The Lancia Ypsilon is a very high-performance car, I have to improve the set-up, but there is considerable room for growth”. The president of the Automobile Club Sassari and Aci Sport Spa Giulio Pes di San Vittorio declares: “The thirtieth International Rally Golfo dell'Asinara has concluded, I must express my heartfelt thanks to all the drivers who participated in the race in a very hot edition, with very high temperatures: applause to them for the effort they made to finish the race. Thanks go, as usual, to the Region and the Municipalities that made the race possible, to Porto Torres, Sassari, Castelsardo, Sorso and all the others. See you at the 31st edition, certainly in a cooler period. Thanks to all the staff of Ac Sassari and the race officials, who spent two days in great heat and therefore applause to them”. The president also thanks the partners and sponsors Sardares, Testoni, Novacal and Tenute Soletta for their support and collaboration. The mayor of Porto Torres Massimo Mulas relaunches: "We arrive at the end of the 30th Rally Golfo dell'Asinara with the awareness that when the entire territory works for a single important event, we have the opportunity to truly relaunch, from a tourist point of view, a system that works especially in the motor sector, because there is excitement. Collaboration with the entire territory was the key to being able to restart in the best possible way with the Golfo dell'Asinara. Otherwise it would have remained blocked for another 18 years precisely because the territories where the cars had to pass did not talk to each other: instead, being able to create a system, allowed us to relaunch and in my opinion to be able to grow even further races or proposals, perhaps by reviving various races that were held in the past". The Councilor for Mobility of the Municipality of Sassari Massimo Rizzu comments: "From the point of view of relations, the involvement of the territory was absolutely important, therefore of the city of Sassari as the leader of a metropolitan territory both from the point of view of relations as we said, and from the point of view of tourism. This will allow us to have further collaborations, further insights into events that this territory will host and we think it could be the correct key to be able to approach the theme of relationships, collaborations and therefore relations with the surrounding territories".