Michele Tassone is the first winner of the Richard Burns Award, introduced by the Richard Burns Foundation in memory of the late 2001 World Rally Champion. The young driver, also winner of the Renault Twingo Gordini TOP Trophy, beat the local driver Stefano Albertini and the winner of the event, Giandomenico Basso.

After the untimely death of the British Champion, because of an incurable disease, some of his loved ones have decided to establish the Richard Burns Foundation, a company that raises money to help people with serious diseases.