Abarth factory driver Luca Rossetti has written his name firmly into the history books of the Targa Florio after dramatically winning the 93rd edition of the legendary road course event yesterday, and in doing so he has given his Italian Rally Championship title hopes a huge boost. Rossetti won by just 6.1 seconds from Paolo Andreucci with the two titans of Italian rallying, who battled all day long, never separated by a margin of more than 10 seconds.

The one-day, nine stage rally was quite simply a battle between the factory Grande Punto Abarth of reigning FIA European Rally Champion Rossetti and the factory-supported Peugeot 207 S2000 of five times Targa Florio winner Paolo Andreucci. The two drivers slugged it out all day long on the hot, dry fast asphalt of the famous historic road racing course and at the chequered flag Rossetti had prevailed by the most slender of margins: just 6.1 seconds separated the two rivals. The two locked out all the fastest stage times with five going to Rossetti and four to Andreucci, while the next best finisher was Renato Travaglia. The experienced pilot from Trentino, who went into this event as the championship points leader, was left trailing in their wake: he claimed the final podium step more than a minute-and-a-half behind.

The theme of the rally was set immediately on the 17.30 km long stage one, (Targa 1) with Rossetti posting fastest time, just 0.2 seconds ahead of Andreucci, the former Fiat factory driver who is also known as the 'father of the Grande Punto Abarth' due to his role in developing the rally car. Stage two (Lascari 1, 13.09 km) saw the two rivals again almost tied together: Rossetti was quickest by 0.6 seconds to take his lead up to 0.8 seconds. Andreucci bounced back on SS3 (Santa Lucia 1, 14.40 km), putting all his vast experience of this event to good use he beat Rossetti's time by 5.1 to open up a 4.3 second lead.

However it would be the only time yesterday that Andreucci would head the rally as on SS4, as the cars went through the 'Targa' stage for a second time, Rossetti pipped the Tuscan driver by 5.6 seconds to wrest back the overall lead by the slenderest of margins: 1.3 seconds. The next stage (Lascari 2) and Rossetti went fastest by 9.8 seconds, to open his advantage up to 11.1 seconds. The Peugeot pilot was quickest on SS6 (Santa Lucia 2) to claw back 2.1 seconds and with Rossetti third fastest it was the first time all day that either of this pair had been outside the top-two scratch times. (Travaglia who was second quickest, just 0.1 seconds off Andreucci, was by now more than a minute adrift in third place).

With three stages to go the fight back by Andreucci was on, and on the third pass of 'Targa' he chipped 0.7 seconds off Rossetti's lead to narrow the gap to 8.3 seconds. The penultimate stage (Lascari 3) saw Rossetti fastest again, 1.1 seconds quicker that Andreucci to open the gap back to 9.4 seconds. The battle would go right to the wire on Santa Lucia 3 and even the tiniest mistake by either driver would seal victory for the other. In the event Andreucci took 3.3 seconds out of Rossetti's advantage to allow the Abarth driver to win by 6.1 seconds.

Travaglia, who chose caution as he protected his championship points lead came home in a distant third place, 1 minute and 31 seconds off Rossetti at the chequered flag, while just five seconds further back in fourth place was Davide Medici (Peugeot 207 S2000). Starting at #27 the privately entered Grande Punto Abarth of Totò Riolo impressed all day: fourth fastest on SS1 he moved up to third place on SS2, a position which he held until SS6 when a slow time dropped him to sixth place. However he clawed back a place on SS7 and crossed the finish line in a well deserved fifth place. Rossetti's factory team mate Umberto Scandola had a more difficult rally as the youngster, with the experienced Guido d'Amore alongside, adapted to the fast, technical asphalt of the Targa Florio. He kicked off with tenth fastest time on SS1, quickly climbed to fifth place by SS3, before finishing in sixth place. Marco Signor was tenth in another private Abarth entry after a steady event, while demonstrating the growing dominance of the new generation of Super 2000 cars, was the fact that the first GpN machine home was former Abarth factory driver Andrea Navarra (Subaru Impreza STi) in eleventh place. 28 cars finished the rally.

After four rounds of the 2009 CIR the drivers' championship leaderboard has a slightly distorted appearance as the factory supported teams have boycotted round 1 (Ciocco) and round 3 (1000 Miglia) in protest at the size of the calendar (10 rounds count this year). This means that Travaglia has notched up 28 points (including winning the Rally Ciocco in a privately-entered Grande Punto Abarth) which puts him 10 points clear of Rossetti and Andreucci after the Targa Florio, this pair have taken a win and a second place apiece from the two rallies they have contested. (On the Rally Adriatico last month Andreucci comfortably beat Rossetti in another head to head encounter). It also means that the Abarth brand has won three out of the first four rounds this year as apart from Travaglia's win in Ciocco the Rally 1000 Miglia last month saw Giandomenico Basso winning in a private entry.

Italian Rally Championship, Rd 4 - 93rd Targa Florio, Final Results: 1. Rossetti-Chiarcossi (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) in 1h20’05”5; 2. Andreucci-Andreussi (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 6”1 ; 3. Travaglia-Granai (Skoda Fabia S2000) + 1’31”0; 4.  Medici-De Luis (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 1’36”; 5. Riolo-Marin (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) + 1’45”1; 6. Scandola-D’Amore (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) + 1’54”6 ; 7. Michelini-Perna (Peugeot 207 S2000) +  2’20”7; 8. Perico-Carrara (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 2’43”5; 9. Di Benedetto-Michelet (Peugeot 207 S2000) +  2’47”6; 10. Signor-Barone (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) + 3’15”4.

Italian Rally Championship (after 4 rounds) - drivers: 1. Travaglia (Abarth, Peugeot and Skoda) 28 points; 2. Rossetti (Abarth) and Andreucci (Peugeot) 18; 4. Cavallini (Peugeot) 14; 5. Michelini (Peugeot) 12; 6. Basso (Abarth) 10; 7. Signor (Abarth) 8; 8. Scandola (Abarth), Navarra (Subaru), Trentin (Peugeot) and Perico (Peugeot) 6.