Italians Luca Rossetti and Matteo Chiarcossi (Abarth Grande Punto) are the winners of the 38th Rally Croatia, second round of the FIA European Rally Championship. The reigning European champions led fellow countrymen Luca Betti and Maurizio Barone (Peugeot 207) and Polish Maciej Oleksowicz – Andrzej Obrebowski (Ford). With this result the Italian crew, which had also won the opening round of the series, scores full points and leads the continental ranking. Slovenian Rok Turk (Peugeot 207 R3T) won the two-wheel drive cars ranking and take the lead of the specific standings. Winners of Gr R and Gr.N were respectively Maciej Rzeznik – Przemyslaw Mazur (Subaru Impreza) and Mauro Patrucco – Chiara Bioletti (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX).
In the third and final day of competition Luca Rossetti further increased his lead by winning almost all the special stages (the final total is of 10 stage wins against 3 for Betti and one each for Oleksowicz and Szymon Ruta with the Peugeot 207). A great fight for third position between Oleksowicz and Longhi (Skoda). The Polish driver managed to get past his rival before the latter was forced to retire because of the consequences of going off the road on the penultimate special stage, held in the rain.
Once again it is worth to mention the performances, often in the Top 5, of Croatian Juraj Sebali (Mitsubishi), although he is far behind in the overall standings because of the nearly 20′ lost in the first two days of competition. Another excellent race by Niko Pulic (Abarth Grande Punto), the best of the local drivers, who finished seventh overall.
Final Overall Classification:
01) L. Rossetti/M. Chiarcossi
Fiat Grande Punto S2000 – 02h 21m 09.1s
02) L. Betti/M. Barone
Peugeot 207 S2000 + 01m 42.1s
03) M. Oleksowicz/A. Obrebowski
Ford Fiesta S2000 + 02m 51.9s
04) D. Iliev/Y. Yanakiev
Škoda Fabia S2000 + 04m 24.5s
05) S. Ruta/S. Rozwadowski
Peugeot 207 S2000 + 06m 05.1s
06) A. Tlusťák/J. Škaloud
Škoda Fabia S2000 + 07m 00.8s
07) N. Pulić/B. Šantić
Fiat Grande Punto S2000 + 07m 05.9s
08) M. Rzeznik/P. Mazur
Subaru Impreza STI R4 + 08m 31.1s
09) R. Turk/K. Enej Ložnar
Peugeot 207 R3T + 13m 23.6s
10) E. Bossalini/D. Mangiarotti
Peugeot 207 S2000 + 14m 39.3s