Peugeot Italy's Luca Rossetti maintained his 100 per cent success rate in the IRC by winning the Vodafone Rally de Portugal comfortably after his rivals hit trouble on Saturday's six stages.
The victory marks Rossetti's fourth success in four appearance in the IRC - after Ypres and Sanremo in 2007 and Istanbul this year - making him the most successful driver in the history of the series so far.
Rossetti was in the thick of an intense fight for the lead with Peugeot Belgium driver Nicolas Vouilloz throughout most of the rally, and started the final day with an advantage of just 2.4secs. However, on Saturday morning, Vouilloz chose slightly softer tyres than Rossetti and started to drop behind. However, it was a puncture, which he was forced to stop and change, that finally dropped the Frenchman out of contention for the win.
“It's been a fantastic battle from the beginning, and I'm overjoyed to win my fourth IRC rally," Rossetti, who now enjoys a six-point overall lead of the championship, commented, "Just as was the case in Turkey at the start of the season, I really didn't expect this. To be competing against such a high-quality field of drivers, with even Marcus Gronholm as the zero car, was a very big honour for me and my co-driver.”
That meant that the provisional second place went, briefly, to Belgian star
Francois Duval, who had climbed up the order despite the handicap of starting first on the road on Friday. However, the Belgian's challenge for the lead was halted by a wheel bearing failure on SS10, ensuring that Rossetti was able to safeguard his advantage over new second place man Jan Kopecky for the final three stages. Kopecky's result moves him up to third place overall in the standings.
Former World Rally champion Didier Auriol retired his Grande Punto on the stage after Duval with suspension failure, allowing the recovering Vouilloz to claim the final podium place and consolidate his second place in the standings.
![Luca Rossetti (I) / Matteo Chiarcossi (I) Peugeot 207 S2000. Istanbul Rally. April 5 2008. [PIC CREDIT: IRC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/424945.jpg)
