Luís Tedesco has won the Tijucas Rally, the fourth round of the Brazilian Rally Championship, and it is the fourth consecutive victory for the Fiat Rally Team official pilot in the N3 category which he comfortably leads with 40 points.

Luís Tedesco has won the Tijucas Rally (SC) the fourth round of the Brazilian Rally Championship, and it is the fourth consecutive victory for the Fiat Rally Team official pilot in the series' N3 category which he comfortably leads with his maximum 40 points points, giving him a huge 27 point advantage at the top of the standings.

With his co-driver Raphael Furtado alongside, Tedesco did an impeccable job at the wheel of the Fiat Palio Abarth 1.8R. Amongst the crews in the N3 category, which is open to rally machines with engines under 2000cc, 4x2 wheel drive, and no engine preparation, he was the fastest on all of the rally's nine timed passages.

“It was a very technical rally," said Tedesco. "The ground was flat in the beginning, but during the later stages it got better. We had a problem during the last stage when a car from the N4 category slipped and crossed the track. We waited about 20 seconds until it got removed, so I had to drive much faster."

In the N2 category, reserved for cars with engines under 1600cc, 4x2 wheel drive, and limited engine preparation, the Fiat Rally Team crew of Fábio Dall'Agnol and Marcelo Dalmut finished in second place. They are in third place in the series but have closed the points gap to championship leader Bernardo Koller down to 8 points.

There was more podium success for the TedRacing run team on the rally as Marcelo Franco and "KZ" Morales driving a Palio finished third in the championship's new category, N2 light, for cars with engines under 1600 cc, 4x2 wheel drive, no engine preparation. Sandro Suptitz and Roberto Bespalez finished one place better to make it two Fiat Palio drivers on the podium, while Tiago Mocellin, who failed to collected any points on the rally, remains the points leader of the category.

Tedesco has won all three events in the Brazilian Rally Championship preceding the Tijucas Rally (SC), the Rally of Pomerode (SC), Erechim (RS) and Divinópolis (MG) and holds a commanding title advantage with the season now having reached the halfway point. The next challenge for the Fiat Rally Team is the Rally of Estação (RS) on August 17. Three more events in September, October and November remain on the schedule.

by Claudio Perlini 

Final Classification of Tijucas Rally, Brazilian Rally Championship, Rd 4:

N3 category:

1st Luis Tedesco/Raphael Furtado - Fiat Palio Abarth
2nd Marco de Oliveira/Mirella de Oliveira - VW Gol
3rd Marco Marini/Vinicius Anziliero - Fiat Punto
NC. Juliano Sartori/Rafael Sartori - Ford Focus

N2 category:

1st Rafael Túlio/César Valandro - Peugeot 206
2nd Fabio Dall Agnol/Marcelo B.Dalmut - Fiat Palio
3rd Bernardo Koller/Sidinei Broering - GM Celta
4th Ulysses Bertholdo/Armando Miranda - GM Celta

N2 light category:

1st Marcelo E. Mendes/Breno Rezende - GM Celta
2nd Sandro Suptitz/Roberto Bespalez - Fiat Palio
3rd Marcelo Franco/Carlos KZ Morales - Fiat Palio
NC. Eduardo Scheer/Jéferson Pavinatto - Renault Clio
NC. José Barros Neto/Gilson Yoshimura - GM Celta
NC. Tiago Mocellin/Robson Giacomel - Fiat Palio

NC = Not Classified

Brazilian Rally Championship of Speed (after 4 rounds):

N3 category:

1st Luis Tedesco - Fiat: 40 points
2nd Eduardo Cunha - Fiat: 13
3rd Fabiano Altomar - Fiat: 8
= Marco Oliveira - VW: 8
5th Marco Marini - Fiat: 6
= Juliano Sartori - Ford: 6

N2 category:

1st Bernardo Koller - GM: 34
2nd Ulysses Bertholdo - GM: 31
3rd Fabio Dall Agnol - Fiat: 26
4th Rafael Túlio - Peugeot: 20
5th Fabio Sacioto - Fiat: 4
6th Haroldo Soares - Fiat: 3 

N2 light category:

1st Tiago Mocellin - Fiat: 23
= Eduardo Scheer - Renault: 23
3rd Marcelo Franco - Fiat: 18
4th Sandro Suptitz - Fiat:16
5th José Barros Neto - GM:10
= Marcelo E.Mendes - GM: 10
7th Marcos Oliveira - VW: 9
8th Cleberson Casarotto - VW: 6
9th Maicon Soares - Fiat: 0