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Abarth factory crew, Andrea Navarra and Guido D'Amore, steered clear of the trouble that affected their rivals on the final day to win the 42nd Rally del Salento held over the weekend, the fifth round of the Italian Rally Championship. Team mate Renato Travaglia meanwhile made it two Grande Punto Abarths on the podium.

Abarth factory crew, Andrea Navarra and Guido D'Amore, steered clear of the trouble that affected their rivals on the final day to win the 42nd Rally del Salento held over the weekend, the fifth round of the Italian Rally Championship, and in the process hand the Turinese brand its first Italian series win of the year. His team mate Renato Travaglia meanwhile made it two Grande Punto Abarths on the podium with a fighting third place.

The Italian Rally Championship (CIR) would take to the most beautiful roads in Salento for the 42nd edition of the Rally del Salento which was set to take place from the 5th to the 7th of June. The competition was valid for the 4th stage of FIA European Rally Cup 2008 – South-West Region, coeff. 10, as well as being the fifth round of the CIR. The rally would be divided as usual into two legs, comprising of a combined 17 special stages of 220.74 timed kilometres. With 522.99 kilometres in road transfer distance, the 42nd edition would boast a total length of 743.73 kilometres.

The opening “Super Special Stage”, on Thursday 5th June, was set to take place on the circuit of La Conca International kartodrome, in Muro Leccese. A second “La Conca” Special Stage would be run on Friday 6th June, at the and of the first leg. Compared to the previous edition, the Special Stages “Martignano”, “Santa Cesarea” and “Miggiano” were all back in the itinerary, and they would be repeated three times during the first leg; while the “Specchia”, “Palombara” and “Ciolo” stages would be repeated twice in the second leg, on Saturday 7th June. The headquarters of the event would be “La Conca Sporting Center” in Muro Leccese, which would be the perfect logistic base for the Service Park, Secretariat, Media Center, and Hospitality. The 42nd Rally del Salento is promoted by Regione Puglia - Assessorato allo Sport, Provincia di Lecce, and the Municipality of Otranto.

Chasing his first win of the year in the Grande Punto Abarth S2000, as well as attempting to claw back the widening championship gap, Navarra once again had to give way to the seemingly unstoppable Luca Rossetti (Peugeot 207 S2000) during the frenetic first leg. At the end of the opening day's action Navarra was 24.4 seconds adrift of the Peugeot pilot, with his Abarth factory team mate Renato Travaglia (+38.4), who had lost time with a brief off-track excursion, sitting just behind him in third place. However for the acknowledged gravel specialist Navarra it was a pleasing position to hold as the cars went into the parc ferme.

Mitsubishi Evo IX pilot Paolo Andreucci (+46.1) was in fourth place overnight, and was the only other contender seriously in running with a shout at victory. Behind the Mitsubishi Italia factory driver opened up more than a minute's gap before Cantamessa (+2:02.0), Cavallini (+2:12.1) and Longhi (+2.15.0) in close succession completed the overnight top 7.

However on the second and final day of the Rally de Salento the top of the leaderboard all changed as the rally conditions went from dry to rain. Rossetti broke his front differential on SS13, the 27.55 km longest stage of the day, meaning Navarra was able to reduce the gap to 7.1 seconds after completing a fast passage; meanwhile Andreucci crashed out on the same stage after breaking a half shaft.

With just three stages remaining Navarra swept into the rally lead on SS14 where team mate Travaglia posted the fastest overall time, his second stage winning time of the day so far (the other was SS12). And although Travaglia went fastest again on SS15 and closed up the gap to Rossetti (whose mechanics had changed the broken differential unit during the scheduled service halt after SS14) he wasn't quite able to make it a 1-2 finish for Abarth and had to settle for third place less, still than 12 seconds adrift, at the chequered flag in the beautiful setting of Porta Terra di Otranto.

Navarra completed the rally by setting the fastest times over the final two stages (SS16 and SS17) to take a maximum 10 point championship score and move into second place in the CIR standings after 5 rounds, 11 points adrift of Rossetti. Longhi, who climbed up to fourth place on the final leg, slips down to third in the title standings, he has 25 points, putting him 5 ahead of fourth placed Travaglia. The next round of the CIR is the Rally di San Crispino, which will take place from 18-20 July.

Italian Rally Championship, Rd 5 - 42nd Rally del Salento: 1. Navarra-D’Amore (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) in 2 hr 30’41”6; 2. Rossetti-Chiarcossi (Peugeot 207) + 25”7; 3. Travaglia-Granai (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) + 37”2; 4. Longhi-Imerito (Subaru Impreza) + 2’57”3; 5. Cavallini-Zanella (Peugeot 207) + 3’20”8; 6. Cantamessa-Capolongo (Mitsubishi Lancer) + 4’25”9; 7. Gamba-Inglesi (Renault Clio) + 6’20”4; 8. Angrisani-Di Lorenzo (Mitsubishi Lancer) + 7’52”5.

Italian Rally Championship Classification - Drivers (after 5 rounds): 1. Rossetti (Peugeot 207 Super 2000) 38 points; 2. Navarra (Grande Punto Abarth) 27; 3. Longhi (Subaru Impreza Sti) 25; 4. Travaglia (Grande Punto Abarth) 20; 5. Andreucci.

Italian Rally Championship Classification - Manufacturers (after 5 rounds): 1. Peugeot 38 points; 2. Mitsubishi 30.5 ; 3. Abarth 29; 4. Subaru 25.