Corsican rally driver Pierre Campana is set for a spectacular return to rally action in October as he joins forces once again with Munaretto Sport to contest the San Remo rally, the penultimate round of this season’s Intercontinental Rally Championship. As a prelude to the IRC event at San Remo, Campana will take part in the Città di Bassano rally, taking place in the home town of rally legend Miki Biasion.
Campana will take to the wheel of a Michelin-shod Peugeot 207 S2000 alongside his trusted co-driver Sabrina de Castelli with title sponsorship from Perin and under the ever watchful eye of Peugeot Sport and Total.
2012 has been an interrupted year for the 27-year-old Corsican as strong results in both WRC and IRC have yet to secure him a full-time rally drive. An excellent seventh place finish in just his third WRC event at Monte-Carlo back in January left a positive impression on team bosses.
Pierre followed that up with a sensational podium result at the Tour de Corse in May with Munaretto and Peugeot in IRC but San Remo will be his first competitive rally since then.
San Remo is a legendary asphalt event with all the action packaged into a narrow 23 hour window, putting an intense focus on team and car performance. Narrow, undulating roads characterise the rally, creating a fast and flowing series of 13 stages with rapid climbs and descents.
Pierre is no stranger to the challenges that San Remo will present, having taken a supreme victory in the 2WD class at the 2009 event, again with the Munaretto squad. The 2012 event will be Pierre’s fourth consecutive participation at San Remo and he will be hoping to continue his positive results this season with a trouble-free and competitive podium run when the rally gets underway on 12 October. Before that, he will use participation in the Rally Città di Bassano to get reacquainted with the Peugeot but will be looking to make an immediate impression with a good result ahead of San Remo.
Pierre Campana said: “I am thrilled to be making a return to competitive rallying at Bassano next weekend and at San Remo next month. The Città di Bassano event will be a very useful preparation for me to get back into rally action while San Remo is an event I know well and which I thoroughly enjoy. It seems like a long time ago that Sabrina and I were in the Peugeot 207 at Tour de Corse, celebrating our podium result and it is a feeling I hope we can recreate at Bassano and San Remo. I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of the Peugeot 207 following our tremendous result at Tour de Corse. I am really grateful to everyone that has made this possible, not least to Munaretto, Peugeot Sport and my sponsor Perin. We have a week until the Città di Bassano rally which we will use to prepare ourselves for the San Remo event, which is always very intense. I have positive memories from San Remo, particularly from 2009 when I won in the 2WD class. It will be good to show my capabilities once again and hopefully to use it as a springboard to more events in the rest of the year.”