14.01.2004 DREAM LINE-UP FOR AUTODELTA AS FABRIZIO GIOVANARDI RETURNS TO THE TEAM TO JOIN GABRIELE TARQUINI

Fabrizio Giovanardi won six titles in six years for Alfa Romeo, now he returns to the marque.The Alfa Romeo factory team, Autodelta, have revealed their three-man line-up for the 2004 FIA European Touring Car Championship. Gabriele Tarquini will be joined by 2002 FIA ETCC champion Fabrizio Giovanardi, and the Brazilian youngster Augusto Farfus Jr.

For the 37-year old Giovanardi, this marks his return to the team in which he claimed six consecutive Touring Car titles between 1997 and 2002, at the wheel of Alfa Romeo 155 and 156 cars. The Italian driver spent the 2003 season driving for BMW Team Italy-Spain, and was classified ninth in the FIA ETCC Drivers’ Championship; his best results were two second places in Barcelona and Brno.

As for Farfus, a highly touted 20-year old from Brazil, he’s facing his first Touring Car season after an already successful career in karting and single-seaters. In 2001 he became Formula Renault European champion, and last year he claimed the Euro F3000 title by a comfortable margin ahead of Fabrizio Del Monte and the new Minardi F1-driver Gianmaria Bruni.

The new Alfa trio will begin testing today and tomorrow in Misano, where Tarquini, Giovanardi and Farfus will run shifts in a pair of Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA racers, testing new technical solutions for the coming season.

In the meantime, the FIA has announced that the International Court of Appeal will meet on 12th February, to discuss the appeal lodged by Carly Motors against Tarquini because of the accident that involved the Italian and Carly Motors’ driver Duncan Huisman in Monza, on 19th October 2003.