An encouraging start, seventh overall in the opening round of the 2023 Italian Rally Championship for Historic Cars, was then joined by two bitter island bites to digest: early retirement at the Costa Smeralda and retirement at the Targa Florio, but for Enrico Bonaso Der next Campagnolo Rally Historic is ready to offer a delicious opportunity to restart its ambitions in the top-class tricolor.
Despite the two southern zeros, the driver from Albignasego can boast a preliminary classification situation that can still smile at the conclusion of the first lap.
While the precedents undoubtedly played against the Team Bassano carrier in the general group, who dropped to sixteenth place, the situation is quite different in the photo of Group B and the class over 1006, where the Paduan appears in third place .
“This is our first full year at CIRAS” – says Bonaso – “so we factored in the fact that we have to learn.” At the Costa Smeralda we showed important signs of improvement on the first special stage before we retired due to a technical failure , while we were unable to attend the Targa Florio for personal reasons. Now comes Campagnolo, our home race, and we’re still third in the group and in class. It will be the last game of the group so taking home important points is crucial because that way we could at least scratch one of the two zeros we collected between the two islands.”
A Campagnolo smiling at Bonaso as they are the only CIRAS act to have had success last season, albeit with little luck, which will give them a head start.
“After three unprecedented races,” emphasizes Bonaso, “we come to the race that we can say we know because we drove here last year.” Reverse trend of latest appearances. We are confident and motivated, the whole team is, and we want to face this challenge with ease and always do our best.”
On a single day of competition, Saturday June 3rd, Bonaso will have four timed entries available, each repeated for two passages, starting at “Gambugliano” (11.65 km) and continuing with “Selva di Trissino” (7 .14km). km), “Recoaro 1000” (14.45 km) and “Santa Caterina” (14.52 km) for a total of just over 95 kilometers of special trips.
At his side in the legendary Lancia Rally 037 Group B will be Nicolò Lazzarini.
“We worked a bit on the setup with my guys,” concludes Bonaso, “and we’re excited to see the results in practice.” The route is very nice, with extremely fast sections that alternate with other, more guided sections. In some tests we should be better suited, in others less so. We don’t make predictions, out of superstition. Many thanks to all partners who support us in this year 2023.”
