Giandomenico Basso surged from fourth to first with a stunning
performance on the epic 44-kilometre night stage that concluded
day one of Rally Sanremo.  Ronde was a combination of all three
stages that had been used for today's opening loops, and crews
had to cope with both darkness and a damp stage following
earlier rain. The home drivers completely blitzed the
Intercontinental Rally Challenge regulars on the stage, with
Abarth duo Basso and Luca Rossetti first and second fastest, and
pre-Ronde leader Paolo Andreucci third in his Peugeot.  Freddy
Loix was the best of the regular IRC competitors in fourth on
the stage, but he was 20 seconds slower than Rossetti and
Andreucci – and 36sec down on Basso, who was a clear 15sec
quicker than anyone else on the stage. That meant he vaulted
into the rally lead, 5.2sec ahead of Andreucci and 17.5sec in
front of new third-place man Rossetti.  Kris Meeke is still the
best non-Italian in fourth, despite spinning his Peugeot near
the end of Ronde.  "I lost 20-25 seconds