The team has signed only one driver so far, 22-year-old Alessandro Balzan, and is talking to others for the second seat; a decision is due to be announced next week. If the next season will be the Scuderia Bigazzi’s third in the revived ETCC, it will also mark Balzan’s Touring Car debut. A double Italian and European karting champion, Balzan was a race winner in the Italian Formula Renault Campus (sixth in 1988), the Italian Renault Mégane Cup (1999) and the European Renault Clio 2-litre Cup (runner-up in 2001). In the past season he became Italian champion of the Alfa Romeo 147 Cup. “The logical step – he says – would have been the Italian Super Production Championship, but both my sponsor and myself were aiming for a high-level international series with a good TV coverage. The FIA ETCC has these requisites and also gives me the opportunity to stay with Alfa Romeo.” Balzan, who will be competing in the Independents Trophy, has a good knowledge of the racetracks visited by the championship thanks to his experience in the Clio 2-litre Cup. “I know most of them, but Barcelona, Anderstorp and Oschersleben. This means I will be able to concentrate on learning the car. I’m aware that being a rookie, life will be hard in the Championship, but I hope I might do well and fight for the Independents Trophy.”

A regular FIA ETCC competitor since 2001, 27-year old Paolo Ruberti is returning to the Championship after being forced to miss the last three meetings of 2002. Ruberti was classified sixth in the 2001 Super Production Championship with a CiBiEmme BMW 320i, and 11th in 2002, when he drove an AGS Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 Gta. "I'm quite happy to be back with an Alfa. My goal is to try to win the Independents Trophy," Ruberti declared. 

His team mate is 22-year old Fabio Francia, who only switched from karting to racing cars in 2000. Over the past two seasons, Francia has competed in the Italian Super Production Championship with an Alfa Romeo 147, finishing first in 2001 and second in 2002. "I'm very excited, because this is a great opportunity for my career. However, I am a bit concerned, because I don't know any of the tracks outside Italy," commented Francia. His father, Giorgio, is currently an Alfa Romeo test driver, having been part of the Italian Manufacturer's works teams for thirteen years, winning a number of rounds in the European, the Italian and the German Touring Car Championships. 

Clever Cats is a young team, founded in 2002; in its first season, the team claimed the Italian Super Production title with Massimo Pigoli, driving a BMW 320i. "We wanted to improve and Alfa Romeo offered us a good opportunity of running parallel programmes in the European and Italian championships," team owner Maximiliano Costi explained. 

Alfa Romeo is not yet ready to vacate the FIA ETCC throne. The Italian car appears to still be the fastest in the field, as proved by the times set by Nicola Larini and Gabriele Tarquini in Barcelona. The latter was the only driver capable of breaking the 1:55 barrier on Thursday, being clocked at 1:54.77. The day after, in the early morning, Larini improved that time to an excellent 1:54.41, which remained the fastest time over the two days. He then went off into the gravel trap at the exit of the final corner, damaging the new front splitter; this also resulted in a blown engine as some gravel became lodged in the driving belt. The Autodelta crew replaced both the splitter and the engine, but the 156 GTA's performance appeared to have been affected in some way, as when Tarquini took the wheel in the afternoon, his best time was 1:56.69, while the team's third man Roberto Colciago could only achieve a disappointing 1:57.08, exactly one second slower than the time he had set on day one. The Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA was running its definitive 2003 configuration. 

The GTA Racing Team Nordauto, led by Monica Sipsz, will race under the Autodelta colours from this year. The combination of Alfa Romeo and Autodelta aims to offer winning racing cars that are close to standard production models.

As on the occasion of the previous sessions in Vallelunga and Magione, Colciago had to cope with a wet track; he managed to complete 79 laps, but his times remained high, with a best lap in 1:27.7. Sun shone and track dried on Wednesday, when Tarquini found conditions good enough to complete 110 laps, carrying on with the technical development.

Nicola Larini, after setting a best time of 1:17.11, commented, "I´m happy with the test in Magione, because we had a further suspension step on the car and it worked really well. We are still half way towards the 2003 car, but lap times and long runs are already very good." 1/10th of a second back was Fabrizio Giovanardi, who was using the session to acclimatise himself with a Ravaglia Motorsport BMW 320i, in 2002-specification. Roberto Colciago, who ran in wetter conditions, was only able to post a 1:17.5 before he handed the car over to Larini as the track dried out.

This is Alfa's first test since a two Michelin Michelin tyre development test session held at the Italian Vallelunga circuit on 9-10th January, which saw all three factory driver's, Nicola Larini, Roberto Colciago and Gabriele Tarquini, put mileage on this year's new car in it first on track appearance. 

Alfa Romeo, unlike BMW, are not homologating a new car this year, but will offer a substantially revised suspension arrangement, new aero-package and a Hewland six-speed gearbox set-up. With sequential gearboxes being allowed, out goes the H-gate 5-speed production derived gearbox used last year and in comes a new Hewland developed sequential system. Alfa Romeo believe that this set-up offers the best route, “We believe this is the best way to go. It will help us to improve our performances a little, thanks to new and shorter gear ratios. But it will also significantly improve the cars’ reliability and the drivers’ confidence, reducing the chances of making mistakes while shifting gears,” commented designer Sergio Limone.

Alfa Romeo will return to Vallelunga for further testing in early February.

The Swedish round at Anderstorp is currently provisional and subject to FIA inspection regarding improvements to the pit garages, video control and run-off areas. The series is once again part of the 'Super Racing Weekends' format, which also includes the FIA GT Sportscar Championship.