The news that so many
Italian automobile fans were waiting for has finally
been confirmed today: Luca Rossetti and Matteo
Chiarcossi will be back in cockpit of a
factory-supported Abarth Grande Punto S2000 this year to
fight for the title in the Italian Rally Championship
(CIR).
Motorsport programmes, the backbone of the Fiat Group's
marketing strategies for over a century, are now in very
short supply with current senior management having
turned to less successful - and often somewhat
embarrassing - marketing approaches, so an official
involvement in the CIR by the Scorpion brand once more
is very welcome news.
Rossetti, one of the
most accomplished and experienced all round rally
drivers, has two FIA European Rally Championship (ERC)
crowns to his name: in 2008 at the wheel of a Peugeot
207 S2000 and last year with Abarth, driving a privately
entered Grande Punto S2000. This will be the third
consecutive year Rossetti will turn out for the Abarth
squad on the CIR, having been a whisker away from
clinching the title in 2009 and 2010, eventually ceding
honours to former Abarth factory pilot Paolo Andreucci,
the "father" of the Grande Punto Super 2000 development
programme. "Rox" has also contested selected
Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) rounds with
Abarth.
"I am very happy,"
said Rossetti, who was born on 24 March 1976 in
Pordenone, Italy," to have for the third consecutive
year the possibility to defend the colours of Abarth. I
trust in the car and the experience of the team to be
able to play on an equal footing to the other teams in
the national title [chase]." Rossetti started his rally
career off in 1999 and has been co-driven by Chiarcossi
(who was also born in Pordenone, on 18 July 1978) since
2001. Rossetti can also count on a previous CIR title
win: in 2008 with a Peugeot 207 S2000.
The Abarth Grande
Punto S2000 will be run in the CIR events once more by
leading Italian private rally team Trico Motor Sport and
will run on Michelin tyres as the BF Goodrich tyres that
the Abarth team has been using in previous campaigns
have now been rebranded. Meanwhile Rossetti is still
chasing the budget to return to the ERC this year to
defend his championship title in another private campaign.
The 2011 CIR, regarded
by many as the most competitive national rally
championship in the world, will run over eight rounds
this year: Il Ciocco (24-27 March), 1000 Miglia (14-17
April), Costa Smeralda (6-8 May), Targa Florio (3-5
June), Salento (18-19 June), San Crispino (13-14 July),
Alpi Orientali (2-4 September), and San Martino di
Castrozza (16-18 September).
This year also
signifies the departure of one of Fiat and Abarth's most
successful rally drivers, Giandomenico Basso, after more
than a decade of success. Basso, who has been co-driven
by Mitia Dotta since 2003, has two FIA European Rally
Championship titles to his name with the successful
Grande Punto Abarth S2000, in 2006 (when it was badged
as a Fiat) and in 2009, as well as the IRC title in 2006
and the CIR title in 2007. Basso in fact began his
amazing unbroken successful collaboration with Fiat and
Abarth by winning the Trofeo Cinquecento in 1998. last
year he supported Rossetti in the CIR but this year
switched to drive a private Peugeot 207 S2000 on
January's IRC season opening Monte Carlo Rally.
