A brand new chapter in Fiat's long and glorious rallying history finally got underway yesterday evening as two Grande Punto Abarth Rally Super2000 machines tackled the first spectator-friendly 'super special' stage of the 29th Rally del Ciocco, the opening round of the 2006 Italian Rally Championship. The stage was itself brief and the times themselves irrelevant, but the significance was clear: Fiat is back in rallying with a major commitment, and a dramatic new car that looks set for a bright future.

The awesome new Grande Punto Abarth Rally made its public debut at the Frankfurt IAA last September, where it was one of the stars of the show, stunning the crowds, and almost simultaneously it embarked on an exhaustive test and development programme on a multitude of surfaces. During a test session in Sardinia former FIA World Rally Champion Colin McRae even tried the machine to offer his impressions and to make comparisons to the WRC cars he has driven. The new Super2000 regulations call for a totally new breed of rallycars which aim to cut dramatically the cost of competing on the world stage. The Grande Punto Abarth Rally boasts 270bhp at 8,500rpm from its 2-litre engine, which is developed from the lump used in Alfa Romeo's FIA World Touring Car Championship Alfa 156 racers. Mated up to a 6-speed sequential gearbox, a 'stock' transmission system drawn from an FIA official supplier, and lightweight materials, these new Super2000 cars are expected to be a potent and exciting new force in rallying.

A few weeks though ago a major hitch occurred in the unfolding Fiat programme when the FIA technical inspector on an offcial visit to N.Technology's Chivasso factory, expressed rhis eservations that the project had been developed outside the strict budgetary guidelines which had been set by the FIA to expressly stop costs spiralling. In fact it was reckoned the car was around 20 percent over the target. However, these contentious issues, which threatened to throw a spanner in the works of Super2000, were ironed out last week and the Grande Punto finally received its full FIA homologation stamp. A new rally Fiat was now ready to prove itself.
 

Fiat announced just days ago that two of the new rallycars would take part in the 2006 Italian Rally Championship, to be driven by Paolo Andreucci and Andrea Navarra, the two rapid pilots to be co-driven by Anna Andreussi and Guido D'Amore respectively. Andreucci needs no introduction: the official test driver for the Super2000 project he plundered five Italian rally titles with the Super1600 class Punto, turning in one giant-killing performance after another. Another former champion, Navarra now returns to the Fiat fold: since he drove the Punto Kit Car back in 2001 he has pedalled a variety of rapid Japanese GpN machines in the Italian series. It was also confirmed by Fiat that Giandomenico Basso and Mitia Dotta will contest the nine-round FIA European Rally Championship, which kicks off on home turf with the Rally Mille Miglia on 23rd April, with the new N.Technology-run car. Last year the pair ran home a close second in the chase for European honours, despite their fair share of bad luck during the season.

Fiat last week officially confirmed their full participation in all eleven-rounds that make up the 2006 Italian Rally Championship, which officially kicked off yesterday with stage one of the 29th Rally del Ciocco. It continues in April when two further rounds, the Rally dell' Adriatico and the Rally Mille Miglia, take place, before the Targa Florio is contested in May. The Rally San Marino and Rally de Salento loom into view in June while July will see the Rally San Martino di Castrozza take place. August then sees the teams switching their focus to the high-altitude Rally Alpi Orientali. The series begins to wind up in September with the former WRC-counting Rally Sanremo, before it comes to a close with the Rally Costa Smeralda and Rally San Crispino in October.

After spending four days of testing in the region at the end of last week the Fiat Rally Team arrived at the 29th Rally del Ciocco to take part in the event's official shakedown. The rally was scheduled to be disputed from Friday evening with 4km-long opening spectator-friendly super special kicking off proceedings. The rally gets fully underway in earnest today with the first of nine timed stages at 0959. A further four stages are scheduled to be run on Sunday before the rally finishes mid-afternoon.

With anticipation building to a high, the two Grande Punto Abarth Rally cars, which are officially entered under the N.Technology banner in Gp N/4, took to the start. Navarra and D'Amore, seeded at no 3 were the first to go off, and they were to wind up the quicker of the two Fiat crews, setting the 7th fastest overall time in 3 minutes 30.4 seconds, just 2 seconds behind the stage winning Errepi Motorsport-entered Mitsubishi Evo IX of Gianfranco Cunico and Luigi Pirollo. Running at no 6, Andreucci and Andreussi were to be classified slightly further back, in 11th place overall, with a time of 3:35.4. The significance was not the times though - they are quite simply irrelevant - but the fact that Fiat are now really back in rallying, day one has dawned.