Rallye de Monza (19-21 November)
One week after the end of the Rally Great Britain and its 36th victory in the World RallyChampionship, the Citroën C4 WRC claimed a one-two finish at the Rallye de Monza. Spain’s DaniSordo finished in front of Dindo Capello at the Italian circuit.
Taking place within the circuit complex that hosts the Italian Grand Prix, the Rally de Monza is run on thecurrent Formula One track as well as the old high-speed loop.
“It’s always a real pleasure to come to Monza,” said Team Manager Benoit Nogier before the start.“We’ve been coming here for a few years and this event is a fantastic European party to bring the rallyseason to a close. We had three Citroën C4 WRCs in Monza for Dani Sordo, Dindo Capello, anendurance racing driver who we already ran on this rally last year, and Felice Re, who drives a C4 on theItalian asphalt championship.”
This year’s Monza Rally was characterised by heavy rain and a thrilling duel between Dani Sordo andDindo Capello throughout the three days of action.
The Spaniard, who finished fifth in this year’s World Rally Championship, claimed the advantage on SS1(Lesmo) by going 2.4 seconds quicker than his Italian rival. But the triple winner of the Le Mans 24Hours fought back on the following stage (Junior) to end the day with a 0.4 second lead over Sordo.Felice Re was fifth, 16.6 seconds further back.
The two leaders continued to trade tenths of seconds the following day, despite the heavy rain. DaniSordo was consistently the quickest in the shorter stages (Junior, Lesmo and Monza) while Dindo Capellowas faster than him on Grand Prix: a longer 32-kilometre stage that was run twice. By the end of daytwo, Dani Sordo had built up an 11.9 second lead over Dindo Capello and nearly a minute over FeliceRe, who had made his way up to third place.
Dindo Capello set two more fastest stage times at the end of the rally, but Dani Sordo still won the 30thMonza Rally by 5.1 seconds. Felice Re was forced to retire on the final special stage.
Dani Sordo commented at the finish: “Conditions were really difficult because of all the rain. Capello wasvery quick on this rally, which he knows perfectly. Nonetheless we managed to win. This is exactly theway I wanted to say goodbye to the Citroën C4 WRC. I’ll always have some fantastic memories of thiscar.”
Dindo Capello, a quadruple winner of this event in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009, added: “We had thepace to fight for the win. It was a very exciting battle, and Dani did a great job.”
Rallye de Monza 20101. Sordo-Vallejo (Citroën C4 WRC) 1:19'29"52. Capello-Pirollo (Citroën C4 WRC) +5"13. Longhi-Cassol (Ford Focus WRC) +1'46"84. D'Aste-D'Aste (Lotus Exige GT) +3'01"85. Giaconia-Torri (Ford Focus WRC) +3'41"96. Andreucci-Andreussi (Peugeot 207 Super 2000) +3'55"87. Musti-Biglieri (Peugeot 307WRC +4’45"78. Uzzeni-Nibbio (Subaru Impreza WRC) +5'15"19. Araujo-Rovagnati (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) +5'26"110. Paccagnella-Bianco (Citroën Xsara WRC) +5'27"2
