19.09.2003 FIAT PUNTO DRIVERS EXPECTED TO STRUGGLE AS ITALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP HEADS FOR ALL-GRAVEL COSTA SMERALDA
This
weekend the Italian rallying panorama is expected to be at least spectacular,
if not even more, with the ninth round of the Italian Championship, the
Rally Costa Smeralda in Northern Sardinia, where there will be another
time the multiple challenge for several classifications.
The most important issue is of course the final rush for the Italian Rally Championship. Three drivers are engaged in the skirmish over the last two events of this year's exciting edition of CIR. The group of the contesting rallymen is composed by two Fiat drivers, Giandomenico Basso and Paolo Andreucci, at the wheel Fiat Puntos run by Trico Motor Sport and Procar respectively, while the third title contender is Piero Longhi driving a 4WD Subaru Impreza. The latter driver has the best chances of victory of the last two rounds of the CIR. Both the events, the Rally Costa Smeralda and the Rally Adriatico, due in mid October, are on gravel, where the 4WD Japanese car performs much better than the handicapped front wheel drive Super1600 cars, like the 9000rpm Punto.
Giandomenico Basso leads the Italian scoreboard with 90 points, Andreucci has 78 while Longhi has 75. But with two probable victories Longhi is expected to jump to the 2003 Italian crown. What's sure is that Basso and Andreucci won't be giving up easily. Anyything could happen to anybody, with Andreucci claiming to be caught out by suspicious looking multiple punctures in the unlucky special stage during the first leg of Rally Alpi Orientali at the beginning of September.
In the meantime all the teams and the Italian manufacturers in the Italian Rally Championship are still fighting hard with the CSAI executives. They claim the number of rounds is too high, which means the teams face increased costs and claim also an unbalanced level of competitiveness between freezed specifications of Super1600 cars versus the more free production cars, like Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII gr.N and Subaru Impreza gr.N.
The Rally Costa Smeralda is not just a CIR scoring round, it is also valid for the Challenge Rally Terra, where the pluriannual fight between Andrea Navarra and Giuseppe Grossi will continue on Sardinian ground. Navarra's Aimont Subaru Impreza WRC and Grossi's Ford Focus WRC won't shine alone for the superb capabilities of the WRC spec cars: there will be also an outstanding top driver, coming from the World Rally Championship circus, Harri Rovanpera, with the official Peugeot 206 WRC from Peugeot Sport, who comes to the Sardinian island to test for the next year's edition of Costa Smeralda.
The FIA has sounded the end of the all asphalt Rallye Sanremo, because FIA Rally commission has downgraded the tarmac events from to five to four in the worldwide championship, because of tarmac events have been considered too many in number and not contributing for World Championship spectacle. Italian rally managers have to conclude their world round with 2003 Rallye Sanremo and plan to add the Rally Costa Smeralda 2004 as Italian round on gravel. This is why the starting list of Rally Costa Smeralda features absolute worthly outsiders, like the Finnish Rovanpera.
by Marco Tenuti
All reports are provided courtesy of PuntoPower ( www.puntopower.com ). Photos courtesy Photocris.
©2003 text: PuntoPower, images: Photocris.
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