It also means that the potent Abarth Grande Punto S2000 has notched up three European titles (Basso also won in 2006, the Super 2000 car’s first year in competition), an honorable feat achieved through history by very few rally machines. Before the Abarth Grande Punto’s trio of titles, the previous car to achieve that honour was Lancia’s Delta integrale in the late 1980s, and before that it was the turn of its dramatic sister, the stunning 037 Rally, in the mid-1980s. Stepping back further through the pages of European rallying history, and cementing Lancia’s rightful global reputation born from being an unrivalled winning rally brand, the legendary Stratos also raced to a hat trick of European titles in the 1970s.

Having skipped the last four rounds, Rossetti, with regular co-driver Matteo Chiarcossi alongside, went into this week’s 51st Rallye International du Valais on 149 points, while Czech driver Antonín Tlusťák (Skoda Fabia S2000), who had scored on each of the last four rounds to edge into the title picture, was on 117 points, putting him 32 adrift of the Abarth pilot. Tlusťák was the only remaining driver who could catch Rossetti, with a maximum of 46 points on offer in Switzerland.

Four stages made up Thursday’s first leg and Rossetti kicked straight off with fastest time on SS1. Mindful of the need for points, he was second-fastest on SS2 and SS3 but posted the quickest time again on the last stage of the day, SS4, to take the overnight rally lead back from Florian Gonon (Subaru Impreza STi) by 7.8 seconds. More importantly, Rossetti collected the maximum 7 ERC points on offer for the opening day. Gonon isn’t registered for the ERC, so Michal Sołowow (Ford Fiesta S2000), in third place overall, was the second ERC runner home to take five points while Tlusťák was down in eleventh place, but still third in the ERC standings, and thus collected 3 points for the day.

It all meant that Rossetti, whose Grande Punto S2000 is prepared and run by the crack Italian privateer team Procar, was within sight of the title: his 7 points brought him up to 156 points, while three points for Tlusťák put him on 120 points, increasing the gap to 36 points. But with a maximum of 39 points still on offer (25 points to the winner of the rally, 7 points for the winner of Leg 2 and 7 points for the winner of Leg 3), the Scorpion driver still wasn't home and dry. Rossetti backed right off through the second day, which comprised seven stages, and at the second service point of the leg after four stages (SS8) Gonon had built up an overall lead of 13.8 seconds over the Abarth pilot. However, through the final loop of three stages Rossetti, with the prestigious title almost in his grasp, picked up the pace and two second-fastest times on SS9 and SS10 brought him up to just 1.7 seconds adrift of the leading Swiss Impreza driver.

The final stage of the day and ‘Rox’ simply let rip, tearing through the 25.26 km test 21.6 seconds faster than Gonon to take the rally lead overnight by 19.3 seconds and, more importantly, seal the ERC title as Tlusťák was now fourth in the ERC standings (he was passed on the leaderboard during the day by Matteo Gamba) and collected just 2 points as a result. That meant that Rossetti had 163 points while the Czech Skoda driver was on 122, a gap of 41 points with a maximum of 32 still on offer. Interestingly, in a quirk of fate, last year Basso also mathematically sealed the ERC title for Abarth on the second day in Switzerland.