Giandomenico Basso considers that, “so far, 2019 is being a good year. We changed for a smaller team, with a limited budget and we have already won two races of the Italian Championship, one of them, an ERC one. Now we can say that everything is going better than we thought. Rally Vinho Madeira is one of my favorite and, this year, came up the chance of taking part in it with a Delta Rally car, with which I am not familiar. By now, I can only hope that that car is competitive and that it allows us to fight for victory”.

The Italian racer, who, in September, will turn 46, started his career in motor-racing back in 1997 with a Fiat Ciquecento. Since then, and up to 2010, he was practically always at the wheel of vehicles produced by the Italian brand, which he has officially represented for many seasons. He was also the official pilot of Proton. Basso, who won rally Vinho Madeira in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2013, was the European Champion in 2006 and 2009, won the IRC in 2006, the TER in 2017 and 2018 and was the Italian Champion in 2007 and 2016. Currently he is the leader of his country’s championship.