The 2010 Rallye Sanremo (''52º Rallye Sanremo''), was the 10th round of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season and was also a round of the Italian Rally Championship. The eleven stage asphalt rally took place on 23–25 September 2010. The longest stage of the rally, Ronde, was run in darkness. All other stages were run in daylight.

Introduction

The rally took place in the province of

Imperia Imperia (; lij, Inpêia or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the Regions of Italy, region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Muss ...

, with a total length of , of which were special stages. The rally base was located along the sea front and the old railway station in the heart of the town of

Sanremo Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...

. A record breaking entry of 30 S2000 cars contested the last all-asphalt IRC event of the year. In addition to the top six runners in the IRC, Proton entered three-time Sanremo winner

Gilles Panizzi Gilles Panizzi (born 19 September 1965) is a former French rally driver. Panizzi was born in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes. Like many of his fellow rally racing countrymen, Panizzi spent a great deal of his developmental driving year ...

to partner alongside Niall McShea.

Results

Paolo Andreucci became the seventh victor of an IRC rally in 2010, after holding off

Juho Hänninen Juho Ville Matias Hänninen (born 25 July 1981) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion and 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) champion with co-driver Mikko Markkula driving a works ...

by just 4.4 seconds, with

Freddy Loix Freddy Loix (born 10 November 1970) is a Belgian rally driver. Career Loix's career in motor sport began in karting at the age of 15. In 1990, he bought his first rally car, a Lancia Delta group N, though he soon progressed to a Mitsubishi Gal ...

just edging out

Kris Meeke Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a Northern Irish professional rally driver, best known for competing in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His co-driver is Seb Marshall, also B ...

for the final podium position with a stage-winning time on the final stage. Meeke had held the lead of the rally for the first three of the rally's eleven stages before Andreucci claimed the rally lead through the Apricale test.

Abarth Abarth & C. S.p.A. () is an Italian racing and road car maker and performance division founded by Italo-Austrian Carlo Abarth in 1949. Abarth & C. S.p.A. is owned by Stellantis through its Italian subsidiary. Its logo is a shield with a styliz ...

Giandomenico Basso Giandomenico Basso (born 15 September 1973, in Montebelluna) is an Italian rally driver. Rally career After competing in karting from 1981, Basso has been rallying since 1994. Basso has driven Fiats throughout his rallying career. He made his W ...

led the rally at the end of day one, setting a time some fifteen seconds quicker than his rivals on the night-time Ronde test of 44 kilometres. Basso would eventually slip to seventh in the final classification. Hänninen cut into Andreucci's lead on day two, with the championship leader falling narrowly short of Andreucci, who claimed his first victory in the IRC. Hänninen's second place allowed him to advance two points in the championship standings due to an improvement on dropped scores, while rival

Jan Kopecký Jan Kopecký (born January 28, 1982) is a professional rally driver from Czech Republic who drives for Škoda Motorsport. He is the 2013 ERC champion, 2018 WRC-2 champion as well as a multiple champion of the Czech Rally Championship Career ...

could do no better than sixth, and thus failing to improve his points total.

Overall

Special stages

References

{{reflist

External links

The official website for the rally

The official website of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge

Sanremo Rally Rallye Sanremo is a rally competition held in Sanremo, Italy. Except for the 1995 event, the event was part of the FIA World Rally Championship schedule from the 1973 season to the 2003 season. Currently, it is a round of the Intercontinental Rall ...

Sanremo Rally