Giandomenico Basso took his third Rally Madeira victory by a slender margin of 3.5 seconds from Bruno Magalhaes in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
The Italian held off a late surge from his Portuguese rival, who won the final stage in front of his home crowd from Basso.
Basso’s only mistake during the seventh round of the IRC season was a spin on SS18, which cost him 10 seconds. That cut his advantage by half, but the works Abarth driver kept up the pace to register a first victory in 2009 for him and the team.
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“A mistake could have cost us the victory but, fortunately, I arrived at Funchal very happy,” he said. “The heat made us suffer and caused some engine problems.”
Home drivers completed the podium, with Peugeot drivers Magalhaes and Alexandre Comacho second and third after 21 asphalt stages.
The next round, the Czech Barum Rally Zlin, runs from August 21-23.
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