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By
finishing in a solid eighth place overall,
Felice Re and Mara Bariani made it two
Grande Punto Abarth S200s firmly inside the
top ten. |
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The rally saw the conclusion of the
inaugural Trofeo Abarth Oro Diesel, which has been contested all
year long by identical-specification Grande Punto
Multijets. |
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With the
Italian Rally Championship's drivers' and manufacturers'
titles already secured thanks to the sterling
season-long efforts of Giandomenico Basso, Abarth
Super2000 representation on the tenth and final round of
the series, the 26th Rally Trofeo ACI Como (15-17
November), was in the hands of a trio of private crews.
The event would also see the conclusion of the inaugural
Trofeo Abarth Oro Diesel, which has been contested all
year long by identical-specification Grande Punto
Multijets.
Starting at #1
on the Rally Trofeo ACI Como would be last year's winner
Corrado Fontana, with Renzo Casazza alongside. The Italian
privateer has a long history of success on this event which
evolved out of the Trofeo Ville d'Este/Coppa AC Como,
winning it outright no less than 5 times: 1986 and 1987
(Renault Clio Williams), 2003 (Toyota Corolla WRC) and most
recently in 2005 and last year (Peugeot 206 WRC), while his
other notable results include second in 1984 (Ferrari 308),
third in 1987 (Lancia 037 Rally) and second in 1999 (Subaru
Impreza WRX). This year, at the wheel of a Grifone-run
Grande Punto Abarth S2000, Fontana has contested the FIA
European Rally Championship (ERC), and so would start in
Como with plenty of experience of both car and event.
The next Grande
Punto Abarth off the starting ramp came up at #2: the hugely
experienced and very rapid Renato Travaglia, with Lorenzo
Granai in the co-driver's seat. The former double FIA
European Rally Champion would be one of the favourites for
victory, and he was fresh from his first win at the wheel of
the Island Motorsport-prepared Grande Punto Abarth, a
comfortable victory which came on the final round of the ERC,
the Rallye d'Antibes last month. Having undertaken a mixture
of ERC and Intercontinental Rally Challenge events in the
Super2000 car this year, he too would be comfortable in the
car on the fast, tight asphalt roads that made up the
demanding Como rally route.
Final Abarth representation in
the Super2000 class came from the Taurus Racing entry,
piloted by Felice Re and Mara Bariani. The Italian duo would
start at #7. With the title already wrapped up most CIR
regulars skipped this final event, but top names to look out
for at the front would include Luca Cantamessa, Fabio
Gianfico and Marco Silva (Mitsubishi Evo IX), while with
Abarth and Peugeot having a 'gentleman's agreement not to
contest the event, Tobia Cavallini would be flying the
French flag in a Peugeot 207 S2000.
Twelve stages,
spilt over two legs of six stages each, would comprise the
26th Rally Trofeo ACI Como, with 157.83 km out of a total
distance of 617.64 km being timed. Immediately on SS1 the
clear favourite, Travaglia, laid down his marker by going
fastest, 6.6 seconds ahead of event specialist Fontana, to
put Abarth into an immediate 1-2 in the classification.
Travaglia was again the quickest driver on SS2, but on the
next stage disaster struck and he lost over a minute,
dropping him down to 10th place overall and promoting
Gianfico (Mitsubishi Evo IX) into the rally lead.
By the end of
leg 1 Travaglia had limited the damage and was back up to
7th place, 1:13.9 adrift of the leg leader, Gianfico. Re was
tucked up just behind him in 8th place, while Fontana's run
at the front had also turned to disaster, again on the
tricky SS3, but he lost no less than 5:26 to plunge down to
40th place overall; he had recovered to 27th place by the
end of the first leg, but was still a massive 5:42.8 off the
rally lead.
With one leg and
six stages remaining the veteran Travaglia mounted a
stunning fight back: four fastest and two second-fastest
times on the leg saw him climbing rapidly back up the
leaderboard to finish second overall, and just 7.3 seconds
adrift of the winner, Gianfico, who had controlled
proceedings from the front. By finishing in a solid 8th
overall, Re made it two Grande Punto Abarths firmly inside
the top ten, while Fontana had climbed back to a respectable
12th place by the chequered flag.
Demitri Brunello
won the Trofeo Abarth Oro Diesel category of the Como event,
as well as finishing in an impressive 23rd overall, to move
into third place in the championship's final standings.
However Alessio Pisi, who finished in second place, assured
himself of the inaugural title as Tiziano Nerobuto's third
place wasn't enough to overhaul Pisi, whom he had shadowed
going into this final round.
The Trofeo Abarth Oro Diesel
has proved itself a great success in its first season, and
the title going to Pisi, who graduated from the Fiat Panda
Cup this year, affirms the Turinese brand's commitment to
supporting 'grassroots' rallying as a means of providing
promising Italian youngsters with a platform upon which to
demonstrate their talent. In a sign of the strength of the
Multijet engine, there were no retirements on this rally, or
on the last round of the series, the Rally du Valais.
Final
classification - Trofeo Abarth Oro Diesel: 1. Alessio
Pisi 40 points; 2. Tiziano Nerobutto 36; 3. Dimitri Brunello
26; 4. Gianni Martellucci 25; 5. Umberto Consigli 20; 6.
Davide Di Benedetto and Diego Fornaciari 10.
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