23/10/2009: Rossetti third after the first leg of the Rally of Como

Luca Rossetti and Matteo Chiarcossi, in a Grande Punto Abarth S2000, are lying third at the end of the first leg of the 28th Rally of Como, the last round of the Italian Rally Championship.

During the first day, Rossetti made a careful start, avoiding any risks when the special stages were damp, before increasing his pace towards the end to post the fastest time in the last special stage.

The other Abarth works crew of Umberto Scandola and Guido D’Amore was forced into retirement with technical issues in the first special stage.

The second and last leg takes places today (Saturday 24 October), starting at 6:41am and finishing at 6:00pm, after another seven special stages totalling 102 kilometres.

Classification after the first leg:
1. Travaglia-Granai (Peugeot 207 S2000), 35min27.1s;
2. Andreucci-Andreussi (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 10.3s;
3. Rossetti-Chiarcossi (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) + 11.9s;
4. Longhi-Imerito (Skoda Fabia S2000) + 21.6s;
5. Cavallini-Farnocchia (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 30.2s.