Robert Consani has landed his first victory in the IRC 2WD Cup in a hugely impressive sixth overall at the wheel of his Renault Clio R3.
The French ace trailed Harry Hunt by almost a minute with three stages remaining but took advantage when Hunt was slowed by a broken right-rear shock absorber, which caused two punctures and his rear brakes to falter.
Despite the numerous setbacks Hunt fought his way to the finish in second with leading Romanian drivers Vlad Cosma third and Alexandru Filip fourth in another Clio R3.
“Now I am finally at the finish it is okay to say I win because this was a very difficult rally,” said Consani, who is 26 points behind Hunt in the title standings. “I drove very slowly that last stage just to be at the finish. I am very happy.”
Serban Tomita gave Honda reason to celebrate by heading home category regular Davide Catania in ninth place. The Japanese make’s lead driver Martin Kangur was a favourite for victory but a succession of punctures wrecked his hopes, which were finally ended when a rock broke his Civic Type R’s fuel tank on Friday’s final run. He elected not to restart on day two.