The was little luck for the trio of Fiat Grande Punto Abarth crews chasing European points on the 34th INA Croatia Delta Rally at the weekend; and despite the Italian rally car posting fastest time on 10 of the 18 stages, none of the S2000 machines made it onto the final podium. This came after the Grande Punto had held the overnight rally lead 1-2 after leg one and the final chance of a podium place evaporated on the final stage as Michal Solowow slipped out of the top three as he struggled to the finish line without power steering.

The INA Croatia Delta Rally, which is organised by the Delta Auto Club, is the Eastern European nation's oldest and most popular motorsport event. This year, for the first time, the rally was joining the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) calendar. Fiat have only won the event once before, in 1976 - the third edition of the rally - when Berislav Modric and Ivica Naukovic took outright honours in a 128 SC, although in the 1990s the Lancia Integrale exerted its dominance on the rally, winning the event six times in seven years.

This year's 34th edition would be contested over two legs, each comprising of nine stages, all over asphalt. A strong entry list of almost 100 crews was led out by Dimitar Ilev at #1. The Bulgaria Mitsubishi Evo IX driver took maximum series points on the opening round of the 2007 ERC, the Mille Miglia, and was one of the favourites for victory in Croatia, along with two-time winner Juraj Šebalj (Evo IX) a trio of Grande Puntos all of which would be chasing maximum FIA ERC points. Polish crew Michal Solowow and Macek Baran, would start at #2; the Fiat Motorspolari entry driven by Turks Volkan Işık and Ozsenler Kaan was seeded at #5, while the all-Italian crew of Corrado Fontana and Renzo Casazza lined up one place behind. Also to look out for at the top of the leaderboard would be Frenchman Simon Jean-Joseph who would be pedalling the smaller S1600-class Citroen C2 once again, while a VW Polo - freshly developed to the new S2000 regulations - was in the hands of Polish driver Tomasz Czopik.

It was in fact the VW Polo S2000 of Czopik which instantly impressed as the Pole won the opening special stage (SS1 Okic 1) 1.3 seconds ahead of Jean-Joseph's front-wheel drive Citroen C2, with Isik being the best placed of the Abarth crews in fourth. Czopik faded quickly though and Jean-Joseph took the lead on SS2 (Plesivica 1) with Fontana climbing into second overall. Solowow gave the Grande Punto Abarth its first fastest stage time of the rally on SS3 (Budinjak 1) to move up into second overall with Hungarian Šebalj (Evo IX) taking the rally lead. Isik maintained the pressure on SS4 (Okic 2) with fastest time, moving up to fourth (he had dropped back to seventh) while Solowow slipped a place to third. Fontana was now out of the reckoning, slowed by problems he lost almost four minutes on SS3, followed by over a minute on SS4 and again on SS5 (Plesivica 2), leaving him 6.34.5 off the rally lead as he approached SS6. After SS5 the other Italian Abarth machines, of Solowow and Işık, were second and third overall and after a second fastest time on SS6 (Budinjak 2) Solowow put the Grande Punto Abarth into the rally lead for the first time.

Fontana, who was for the first time starting to look very comfortable at the wheel the Grande Punto Abarth, took his first fastest time of the rally on SS7 (Okic 3) as he begun a long fight back up the order with Solowow responding with a fastest time on SS8 (Plesivica 3), although Isik was able to wrest away the lead of the rally, to lead the Pole overall by just 0.4 seconds. Fontana set another fastest time of the day on the leg's final stage (SS9, Bundan) as he continued his recovery, but it was Işık who led the crews into overnight parc ferme, just 2.1 seconds ahead of the similar-specification Grande Punto Abarth of Solowow.
 

In third place was Šebalj (Evo IX) but he was 29.1 seconds off the rally lead. Fontana had fought back to 17th overall by this point, but he was a massive 6:05.6 behind Işık with only the lower reaches of the 10 ten a possibility with nine stages remaining.

There was instant drama at the start of leg 2 as technical problems forced rally leader Işık to abandon before the start, putting Solowow into the lead of the event and leaving him as the only Abarth runner remaining which was capable of challenging for overall victory. Fontana went fastest on the opening stage (SS10 Laz 1), 4.4 seconds ahead of Czopik to move up to 15th overall, while third fastest time for Solowow put him into a 29.7 second lead at the top of the classification. That lead shrank to 24.3 seconds on SS11 (Samci 1) and as Šebalj and Iliev battled in conditions that suited the four wheel drive Mitsubishi Evo IX GpN cars, that lead came down to 9.4 seconds at the end of SS12 (Sljeme 1). SS13 (Laz 2) and Fontana went fastest again, but as he was just 2.5 seconds ahead of Solowow, the Pole was able to extend his cushion at the front back up to 17.5 seconds. The Abarth driver held on through SS14 (Samci 2), but as the battle raged he lost 1:42.5 on SS15 (Sljeme 2) to drop down to third overall, 1:09.6 behind Bulgarian Šebalj who was now the new rally leader. Fontana went fastest yet again on SS16 (Laz 3) to more into the top ten overall, and again on the penultimate stage, SS17 (Samci 3) with Solowow second quickest. However, with just one stage remaining, Jean-Joseph was now only 6.2 seconds behind Solowow, and with the Abarth driver really struggling with a loss of power steering, the Frenchman was targeting the final podium position. The Jean-Joseph accomplished this task on SS18 (Sljeme 3) to finish in third place, just 1.6 seconds ahead of the Grande Punto Abarth driver. While Šebalj went on to win his third Croatia Rally in four years and Iliev finished in second place to extend his ERC points lead, further back Fontana impressively battled on to finish in 8th overall.

In fact there were eight changes of lead on the 34th INA Croatia Rally and no less than eight drivers claimed at least one stage win. The Grande Punto Abarth was the best represented machine, setting fastest time on 10 of the 18 stages with Fontana posting six quickest times (SS7,9,10,13,16,18) as he fought back from problems, while Solowow posted three best times (SS3,8,17) and Isik claimed one (SS4).

Three of the ten rounds that make up the 2007 FIA ERC have now been completed. The series moves onto Poland next month (8-10 Jun) for the 64th Rajd Polski - where Mihcal Solowow will be gunning for honours on home soil in the Grande Punto Abarth - before the series arrives in Belgium just a fortnight later (22-24 Jun) for the Ypres Westhoek Rally.

34th INA Croatia Rally - Final Results

1. Juraj Šebalj/Toni Klinc (HR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2:44.04,7; 2. Dimitar Iliew/Janaki Janakijew (BG) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +28,4; 3. Simon Jean-Joseph/Jack Boyere (F) Citroen C2 S1600 +1.19,8; 4. Michał Sołowow/Maciej Baran (PL) Fiat Punto Abarth S2000 +1.21,4; 5. Tomaż Kaucić/Peter Zorenc (SLO) Subaru Impreza WRX STI N11 +2.16,5; 6. Darko Peljhan/Igor Kacin (SLO) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +3.06,1; 7. Radoslaw Kozlekow/Nikola Popow (BG) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +4.17,6; 8. Corrado Fontana/Renzo Casazza (I) Fiat Punto Abarth S2000 +5.13,7; 9. Mitja Klemencić/Jernej Korpar (SLO) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +5.35,1; 10. Ivan Goran Cibej/Darko Karanović (HR) Subaru Impreza WRX STI N12 +5.58,9

FIA European Rally Championship standings (after 3 rounds)

1. Iliew 23 points; 2. Sołowow 15; 3. Vouilloz 14; 4. Sebalj 13; 5. Isik 11; 6. Jean-Joseph 10; 6. Navarra 10; 6. Garcia Ojeda 10; 9. Travaglia 8; 9.Fontana 8; 11. Czopik 6; 12. Donczew 2 13. Kazaz 1.