Valais: Basso ahead of Burri & Burri, "Bally" champion
SIX SKODA AHEAD Only the Italian Giandomenico Basso managed to get ahead of the strong driving Olivier Burri at the Rallye du Valais. His son Michäel Burri finished third and Ivan Ballinari (all on Skoda Fabia R5) confidently secured his first SM title. For one and a half days, the 59th Rallye International du Valais smelled [...]
For a day and a half, the 59th Rallye International du Valais smelled of a Swiss triumph. No one knows the stages in the Valais mountains better than 55-year-old Olivier Burri, who has already won here eight times.
Thus, the veteran led the classification until the 32.65 km long royal stage SP12 "Les Cols" on Saturday morning. Although the Bernese-Jurassian set the fastest time, he received a 10-second penalty for clocking in one minute too late at the time control. Burri thus fell 4.2 seconds behind the professional from Italy.
Out of rhythm
The preliminary decision was then made on the second passage over the Col des Planches above Martigny. After Basso had been slightly faster than Burri in three of the four previous stages, he took 14.5 seconds off the Swiss on this 22.7 km long SS17. Due to the ten-minute waiting period before the start, Burri had apparently felt disturbed in his concentration and thus did not get into the same fluid rhythm as before.
With a lead of 26.8 seconds, the race was over. Last year's winner Basso, this year driving a Skoda Fabia instead of a Hyundai i20 NG, finally decided the last SS in his favor and won the race with a lead of 26.8 seconds over the clearly best Swiss in the field.
Dramatic fight for 3rd place
Burris' son Michäel on another Skoda Fabia R5 and the Dutchman Kevin Abbring on the Ford Fiesta R5 driven by his co-driver Peter Tsjön initially fought it out for third place. On Saturday, Jérémie Toedtli stepped up a gear at his first start after almost a year's break from racing and now also joined the fight for the final podium spot.
After clearly setting the third-best time in the SS "Les Cols", Abbring moved ahead of Toedtli and Burri, only to crash vehemently in the next stage. Fortunately, both drivers survived the accident without significant injuries.
On this SS13 Toedtli also lost around 14 seconds to Burri Jr. who thus took over third intermediate place.
When the Neuchâtel native's Skoda fell victim to clutch failure in SS14, the way was clear for Michäel Burri to join his father Oliver on the podium alongside overall winner Basso. An extraordinary family reunion that somewhat eased Olivier's disappointment at narrowly missing out on victory.
Olivier Burri: "Those were two intense days with an incredible fight that went to the substance. I really had to give my best and wanted this ninth victory. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out, but it was emotional to be on the podium with my son."
Ballinari with head and skill
As predicted, Ivan Ballinari rode his own race, which he set up for the title fight with Steeves Schneeberger and Cédric Althaus. With his first SM title in sight, the Ticino rider held back a bit on the first stage.
It was only when it became clear during Saturday's second stage that even if he dropped out, his opponents would not be able to prevent him from succeeding that "Bally" turned up the heat.
With a third and second best time, the new champion proved at the end that more would have been possible than fifth place behind Mike Coppens from the Valais. In sixth place, the second Ticino driver Federico Della Casa ensured a sixfold triumph for the Skoda Fabia R5.
The Schneeberger couple had not yet properly digested the accident in Ticino and lost a massive amount of ground. Nevertheless, their 16th place overall was enough for the runner-up title ahead of Althaus (7th), both on Ford Fiesta R5.
Thomas Schmid as double junior champion
In the Junior-SM, local Jo Michellod led by about 30 seconds over Thomas Schmid after the conclusion of the first stage. The decision in favor of the man from eastern Switzerland was made on Saturday's first stage.
The man from Valais flew into the forest on SS Anzère 1, whereupon Thomas Schmid, who was leading the SM table, was confirmed as the champion. With victory in the Junior classification and second place behind Dutchman Van der Marel on Opel Adam in the R2 class, Schmid's second SM title in a season (after the Berg-SM Junior) is well deserved.
We will come back to this performance in a separate report.
Information: Jürg Kaufmann, RIV
