The Fiat Abarth/Tedracing team has won the  Rally Internacional de Ouro Branco, which was the sixth round of both the South American Rally Championship and the Brazilian Rally Championship. For Fiat factory youngster Fábio Dall'Agnol the result means he retains the Brazilian Rally Championship lead in the hotly contested N2 category.

Dall'Agnol, who had Marcelo Dalmut alongside in the co-driver's seat as usual, came out on top after a tough event which was held at Ouro Branco in the State of Minas Gerais; a result made all the more pleasing as this is Fiat's 'hometown' in Brazil, and the extra advertising that reflected this could be seen along the rally stages. After 184.30 kilometres divided into eleven stages, held last Saturday and Sunday, the crew achieved their second victory in the South American competition this season and guaranteed the second best time in the Brazilian Rally Championship, enough to keep them in the leadership in the classification of the N2 category.

For Dall'Agnol, who disputed the rally at the wheel of the tried and tested Palio Abarth Rally 2007, running in the 'showroom' specification N2-category, it was one of the most difficult events during his burgeoning career. “It was a long and tough race, with a rough ground and high speed sections. I am very happy with the result mainly for having been able to arrive at the finish without any mechanical problem, in a race where that kind of problem and accidents are very common," affirmed Dall'Agnol in an interview with the press after the race.

The crew of Luís Tedesco and Bruno Mega in A6 category participated in this rally without the possibility of scoring points as they were competing for the first time this year with the new Palio Abarth Rally 2008, which is not registered for this year's competition. The experienced pair used the rally in order to develop some new mechanical components.
 

These are aimed to be used in next year's Brazilian championship. With an unofficial time of 2 hours 21 minutes and 04 seconds, the crew would have been the winners of the rally in the A6 class with a very comfortable 16 minutes and 38 seconds in hand over the actual class winner if they had been officially entered. “Every car to be a champion needs to be tested in real conditions of a race also, and we began here in Ouro Branco to keep the sequence of titles conquered by Palio in the last 10 years", declared Tedesco afterwards. He is now looking for his eleventh consecutive title with the Fiat brand in his career.

The next round of the Brazilian Rally Championship will be be based in the City of Severiano de Almeida in the State of Rio Grande do Sul on November 3. The next stage of South American Rally Championship of Speed will be based in the City of Concepción in Argentina on October 20. The Fiat/Ted Racing Team is sponsored by Fiat, Banco Fiat and supported by Yokohama, Sparco, Formacco, Santa Rita, Jump, Artmix, Academia Limit, RSSP, Iveco and Fila.

by Claudio Perlini

Brazilian Rally Championship classification (after 6 rounds): Class A6 - 1st Rafael Túlio/Gilvan Jablonski (Peugeot 206) 46 points, 2nd Luís Tedesco/Bruno Mega (Fiat Palio) 41, 3rd Leandro Brustolin/Daniel Ceconelo (VW Gol); Class N2 - 1st Fábio Dall Agnol/Marcelo Dalmut (Fiat Palio) 53, 2nd Ulysses Bertholdo/Sidinei Broering (GM Celta) 52, 3rd Marlon Koerich/Joseane Koerich (GM Celta) 26.