2010 Rallye Sanremo
# 2010 Rallye Sanremo

The 2010 Rallye Sanremo (52º Rallye Sanremo), was the 10th round of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season and was also a round of the Italian Rally Championship. The eleven stage asphalt rally took place on 23–25 September 2010. The longest stage of the rally, Ronde, was run in darkness. All other stages were run in daylight.

## Introduction

The rally took place in the province of Imperia, with a total length of 465.63 km (289.33 mi), 220.03 km (136.72 mi) of which were special stages. The rally base was located along the sea front and the old railway station in the heart of the town of Sanremo. A record breaking entry of 30 S2000 cars contested the last all-asphalt IRC event of the year. In addition to the top six runners in the IRC, Proton entered three-time Sanremo winner Gilles Panizzi to partner alongside Niall McShea.

## Results

Paolo Andreucci became the seventh victor of an IRC rally in 2010, after holding off Juho Hänninen by just 4.4 seconds, with Freddy Loix just edging out Kris Meeke for the final podium position with a stage-winning time on the final stage. Meeke had held the lead of the rally for the first three of the rally's eleven stages before Andreucci claimed the rally lead through the Apricale test. Abarth's Giandomenico Basso led the rally at the end of day one, setting a time some fifteen seconds quicker than his rivals on the night-time Ronde test of 44 kilometres. Basso would eventually slip to seventh in the final classification. Hänninen cut into Andreucci's lead on day two, with the championship leader falling narrowly short of Andreucci, who claimed his first victory in the IRC. Hänninen's second place allowed him to advance two points in the championship standings due to an improvement on dropped scores, while rival Jan Kopecký could do no better than sixth, and thus failing to improve his points total.

### Overall

| Pos. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Time | Difference | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1. | Paolo Andreucci | Anna Andreussi | Peugeot 207 S2000 | 2:35:32.7 | 0.0 | 10 |
| 2. | Juho Hänninen | Mikko Markkula | Škoda Fabia S2000 | 2:35:37.1 | 4.4 | 8 |
| 3. | Freddy Loix | Fréderic Miclotte | Škoda Fabia S2000 | 2:36:06.8 | 34.1 | 6 |
| 4. | Kris Meeke | Paul Nagle | Peugeot 207 S2000 | 2:36:11.0 | 38.3 | 5 |
| 5. | Luca Rossetti | Matteo Chiarcossi | Abarth Grande Punto S2000 | 2:36:53.7 | 1:21.0 | 4 |
| 6. | Jan Kopecký | Petr Starý | Škoda Fabia S2000 | 2:37:32.6 | 1:59.9 | 3 |
| 7. | Giandomenico Basso | Mitia Dotta | Abarth Grande Punto S2000 | 2:37:50.6 | 2:17.9 | 2 |
| 8. | Thierry Neuville | Nicolas Klinger | Peugeot 207 S2000 | 2:38:07.7 | 2:35.0 | 1 |

### Special stages

| Day | Stage | Time | Name | Length | Winner | Time | Avg. spd. | Rally leader |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Leg 1 (24 Sept) | SS1 | 13:34 | Coldirodi 1 | 12.92 km | Kris Meeke | 8:36.6 | 90.03 km/h | Kris Meeke |
| Leg 1 (24 Sept) | SS2 | 14:28 | Bignone 1 | 10.62 km | Paolo Andreucci | 7:05.6 | 89.83 km/h | Kris Meeke |
| Leg 1 (24 Sept) | SS3 | 16:34 | Coldirodi 2 | 12.92 km | Kris Meeke | 8:39.5 | 89.53 km/h | Kris Meeke |
| Leg 1 (24 Sept) | SS4 | 16:56 | Apricale | 17.53 km | Paolo Andreucci | 12:51.9 | 81.76 km/h | Paolo Andreucci |
| Leg 1 (24 Sept) | SS5 | 17:23 | Bignone 2 | 10.62 km | Paolo Andreucci Luca Rossetti | 7:10.5 | 88.81 km/h | Paolo Andreucci |
| Leg 1 (24 Sept) | SS6 | 22:09 | Ronde | 44.00 km | Giandomenico Basso | 31:07.7 | 84.81 km/h | Giandomenico Basso |
| Leg 2 (25 Sept) | SS7 | 09:00 | Monte Ceppo | 29.56 km | Juho Hänninen | 21:16.2 | 83.39 km/h | Paolo Andreucci |
| Leg 2 (25 Sept) | SS8 | 09:45 | Teglia 1 | 29.03 km | Luca Rossetti | 20:23.5 | 85.42 km/h | Paolo Andreucci |
| Leg 2 (25 Sept) | SS9 | 13:00 | Bajardo | 1.73 km | Juho Hänninen | 1:17.9 | 79.95 km/h | Paolo Andreucci |
| Leg 2 (25 Sept) | SS10 | 13:14 | Ceppo Short | 22.07 km | Paolo Andreucci | 15:44.9 | 84.09 km/h | Paolo Andreucci |
| Leg 2 (25 Sept) | SS11 | 13:50 | Teglia 2 | 29.03 km | Freddy Loix | 20:06.3 | 86.64 km/h | Paolo Andreucci |
