Pierre Campana demonstrated his fighting spirit by battling back from 24th to claim eighth-place points on Rallye Sanremo last week but nevertheless couldn’t hide his disappointment at the finish.
Having started the Intercontinental Rally Challenge counter as a favourite for a podium result in his Munaretto Peugeot 207 Super 2000, the Corsican ace revealed that a series of setbacks had cancelled out his second top-three finish of 2012 with co-driver Sabrina de Castelli.
“I came with the aim and expectation of challenging for the podium but things definitely conspired against me this weekend,” said Campana, who finished third on Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse in May. “I cannot express just how disappointed I am. Things were not right from the very first stage. I thought I had picked up a puncture in the difficult conditions and I didn’t have any confidence to push. We made an incorrect tyre choice in the first leg, which compounded the difficulties, but we made some set-up changes at the first service which helped a lot and I was definitely quick. The driveshaft problem then occurred [on stage four] which effectively ended our hopes of a good result.”
He continued: “On Saturday, in the first stages we had some problems with the brakes, as well as no intercom in stage seven and eight, but in the second loop we were able to demonstrate a more representative performance. Even so, it was a tough event for me and I am looking forward to bouncing back.”