Sebastian Ogier has won the Rally della Lanterna by 5.7 secs to Citroen Junior team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Ferricchi Maurizo finished third, 1 min 56 secs behind winner Ogier.
Raikkonen was fastest out of the blocks, leading the event up to the final stage when Ogier went fastest to take the win by 5.7 secs.
Ogier said: “It’s always great to win a rally, but above all I’m pleased to have been able to test a variety of different things on the car. I feel much better prepared now for the remaining rounds of the World Rally Championship, starting with the Rally Bulgaria that will be new for everyone.”
"Kimi was very fast today and it was very difficult to catch him because this morning we made a wrong tyre choice and lost 30 seconds.
"I can complement him [Raikkonen] because he did a very good rally for his first time on tarmac [in a WRC car]."
Raikkonen commented: “It was a good experience. The car was fun to drive and this day will be very useful to me to get ready for the second part of the season.”
"We didn't lose to such a bad guy [Ogier]," Raikkonen laughed. "It was a nice rally and good learning."
Citroen Junior Team manager Benoît Nogier came away from the Italian event happy.
“Another victory in the space of a few weeks and our first one-two are great moments for our team, which has been working nonstop,” he concluded. “Leaving aside the result though, we’ve made a lot of progress to prepare for the Rally Bulgaria. It’s extremely useful for the future to have tried out a wide range of tyres in different conditions.
"Sébastien was just as good as we expected him to be and I would also like to highlight the performance of Kimi, who set some very good times. We expected him to feel more at ease on asphalt and that has turned out to be the case. It’s very encouraging for the future. Finally, I’d like to thank the organisers and the spectators, who welcomed us enthusiastically to their beautiful part of the world.”
The win made up for the disappointment of the IRC event, the Rally d'Italia-Sardegna, where the Frenchman's Peugeot 207 S2000 overheated which caused his retirement from the event.
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