Codecà champion for the eighth time Valvasone awarded the Cross Country Rally badges
The 2016 Italian Cross Country Rally Championship ended in the splendid setting of Piazza Castello in Valvasone with the victory of Lorenzo Codecà driving Emmetre Racing's Suzuki Grand Vitara 3.6.
The driver from Brianza, sailed by Bruno Fedullo from Pescara, also won in the last round of the season, the unprecedented Italian Baja d'Autunno, with a total time of 2: 05'09 '', ahead of Angelo Montico and Davide Rigoletto from Pordenone. on the Yamaha Quaddy at 1'43 '', while Alfio Bordonaro and Marcello Bono on the Grand Vitara 1.9 went third on the podium at 9'37 ''.
The Sicilian crew won the T2 title (vehicles derived from the series) and the Challenge Suzuki in extremis as Andrea Lolli and Francesco Facile had to give way after a troubled race between errors and technical troubles.
The Oscar of bad luck, however, went to Elvis Borsoi and Paolo Manfredini, great protagonists on their Toyota Toyodell up to the last selective sector, when a start of fire forced them to retire, abandoning the leadership they had just regained.
Despite a tight starting park in the season finale, the Italian Baja d’Autunno was able to stir up a large audience at the "Valvadrom" near the Mosole quarry, with excitement and spectacle dispensed by the vehicles on the pitch without saving energy. Fourth place obtained by Mauro Cantarello and Cristian Darchi (another Suzuki Grand Vitara), undermining Bordonaro, while the other Pordenone couple formed by Andrea Tomasini and Mauro Toffoli (Prototype Peugeot) finished fifth for the satisfaction of the North East Ideas colors. A dazzling smile from Gianluca Morra and Luca Abbondi (Mitsubishi Pajero), winners for the second consecutive year of the TH title (vehicles with expired homologation), curiously ending in Valvasone with the same time (2: 22''04 '') as the Marchigiani Andrea Saviotti and Michele Mengarelli (Land Rover Defender), while Margherita Lops and Roberto Briani (Grand Vitara) had to settle for third place in the category, but still finishing second in the championship. The pre-Dakar test of Graziano Scandola and Gianmarco Fossà (Polaris) was positive, blocked only in the final by a puncture.
Baja d’Autunno promoted by pilots and professionals with the hope of being more numerous at the start in 2017.
