The Fiat Rally Team claimed a crushing double category win during the fourth round of Brazilian Rally Championship, the Rally de Estação. The Italian brand came out firmly on top in the A6 and N2 classes on Sunday in the city of Estação/RS where the rally was based. This was the second consecutive event on which Fiat achieved a double class winning result with the Palio Abarth Rally, in the hands of the crews Luís Tedesco and Bruno Mega, in the A6 class, and with the leaders of the championship in the N2 class, Fábio Dall’Agnol and Marcelo Dalmut.

In the A6 category the leading positions began to be defined during the opening leg on Saturday when the expected challenge of the local pilots Leandro Brustolin and Daniel Ceconello (Volkswagen Gol) evaporated after they had a mechanical problem with their transmission system as they battled at the front with Tedesco and Mega. "It is a rally in which the work of the co-pilot is key, with several hairpin bends where you can’t slow down so not lose any time, that is really important," said Tedesco at the end of the first day, by which time he had opened up an advantage of 27 seconds over the second placed crew.

This turned out to be a comfortable cushion which the Fiat factory driver was able to control during the final day as he ran out the A6 winner and closed up further the championship points deficit he has as a result of retiring during the first round of the series. "It was a challenge in a virtually new rally for the majority of pilots, and with this victory we get closer to the leaders,” said Tedesco who won with a 15.7 second advantage in hand to the championship leaders in the A6 class, Rafael Túlio and Gilvan Jablonski (Peugeot 206).
 

After four rounds of the 2007 Brazilian Rally Championship Tedesco has now reduced the deficit to five points; the Fiat driver now stands on 31 points compared to the Peugeot pilot who has 36 points. Brustolin's problems on the rally mean that the VW driver has now slipped to away from the top two, and lies in a more distant third place with 22 points.

In the N2 class the Fiat crew of Fábio Dall’Agnol and Marcelo Dalmut won their fourth consecutive rally, making it four wins out of four events, to keep their invincibility in the championship standings. "We are eight points ahead of second place but we cannot think that the competition is finished," said the twenty year old pilot Dall’Agnol who has a maximum score of 40 points. Ulysses Bertholdo (GM Celta) is second with 32 points while Marlon Koerich (GM Celta) is next up with 20 points.

The fifth round of the 2007 Brazilian Rally Championship will be disputed in the city of Curitiba/PR on 21st July. The Fiat/Ted Racing Team's challenge is sponsored by Fiat and Banco Fiat, and is additionally supported by: Yokohama, Sparco, Formacco, Santa Rita, Jump, Artmix, Academia Limit, RSSP, Iveco and Fila.

by Claudio Perlini