It should have been the confirmation of the good progress of Fiat drivers in the Junior circus, but it didn't happen. First of all, Marco Ligato, the Italian-Argentinian driver of Top Run Racing had to withdraw, because an injury suffered during the second week, while hillcrossing with his mountain bike in Argentina. The dirty asphalt of Catalunya, in the hinterland of Lloret de Mar, should have fit very much the speed capabilities of Fiat Punto, because large tracks do not pose too many risks for the drivers and for the car reliability.

However, after a good start in the first stage of the first leg, Mirco Baldacci, after winning the last round of the Junior series, the Sanremo Rally on 3-5th October, had to retire, because of the engine failure of the Hi-tec's Punto. "Now we have to look forward" says Baldacci "in this week my mechanics will swap the engine and I really hope to be ready for  England". With the Sanmarinese driver's retirement, the game is a matter between Brice Tirabassi and the Suzuki men, headed by Salvador Canellas, who is the favourite home driver and has shown in the whole season to being able of solid performance and completeness.

The French youngster didn't hesitate to get the leadership in the first stage, and he would not abandon until the podium on Sunday's afternoon. "When you see the Renault Clio on the stage, it really looks like having at least 25/30 HP more than the other Super1600 cars, it pushes so hard, that you don't believe at all" commended Vittorio Caneva, one of the Italian recce men.

After the first leg, Brice Tirabassi signs five of the eight scratches of the first leg and heads Meeke with 45 seconds. The performance of the Italian crews are somewhat disappointing with Massimo Ceccato still very slow, though his expertize on asphalt.

After the second leg, Brice Tirabassi continues to lead the JWRC category of the Catalunya Rally, with a virtually trouble-free day in his Renault Clio. Heexplained that it had been difficult to make pacenotes on the new stages, one of which was unusually wide and fast. He didn't gain many seconds over the Irish Meeke, who is still under the minute gap. The following provisional positions are filled by the Suzuki armada, which isn't very fast on the tarmac, but still very reliable. Non-championship driver Simon Jean-Joseph remained the highest placed Super 1600 driver ahead of the Spaniard Josep Membrado with Tirabassi third, all in Renaults.

Marco Ligato, who followed the event with a severe pain in his left wrist, and his arm set in plaster, said: "It looks strongly as if the championship will not be decided until the final round in Britain. Even if Tirabassi stays in the lead Canellas, his nearest rival, will force a showdown in two week's time if he stays in the top five places in the category. The Top Run Fiat driven by Massimo Ceccato is currently lying ninth, just one place outside the championship points level."

During the second leg other two JWRC drivers retired. Firstly Alessandro Broccoli had engine failure on his Opel, then Dimitar Iliev went off the road on his Peugeot in the afternoon. Salvador Canellas had to drive all the day with a broken engine-cut system in his sequential gear selection system, which meant he had to use the clutch for gear changes while Abdo Feghali reached service slowly at the end of the day with gearbox trouble.

The Sunday leg deserves a lot of rain for all the drivers, but the Super1600 drivers adopted conservative guidelines and aimed to reach the finish line and get as many points as possible for the Junior Championship. However Tirabassi performed quite well in the stages and totalized 13 best times over 22 stages! Brice Tirabassi led the JWRC category of the Catalunya Rally from start to finish with his Clio. He will now start the final round, in Britain, with a seven point lead over Salvador Canellas.

12 out of 16 of the JWRC starters reached the finish, an unprecedented high number, but the event had mixed fortunes for the various Clio drivers. While Simon Jean-Joseph (ineligible for the JWRC because of its age limits) was the top S1600 finisher and Tirabassi was the top JWRC driver, three of the Clios failed to finish, two through accidents and one for engine trouble. At the beginning of the rally Clios held the top five S1600 placings.

During the last stages there were two more JWRC retirements. This was Kosti Katajamaki whose Volkswagen Polo had alternator trouble. There was a happy moment when Kris Meeke (Opel), who is already the British S1600 champion, but who had failed to score on any of the five previous rounds, finished second and gained his first points! His teammate Oscar Svedlund had instead a mechanical failure on his Polo just on the twentyfirst stage. Guy Wilks who had been lying second early on but lost a lot of time when he went off the road and overturned the car, finished the event at the bottom of the classification.

Marcos Ligato says: "Congratulations to all the drivers who finished the Catalunya Rally, despite the very mixed conditions. Never before had so few JWRC drivers retired! Congratulations also to our Top Run colleague, Massimo Ceccato who brought his Punto into eighth place. My hope now is that the doctors will allow me to take part in Britain for the Wales Rally GB, which is run on smooth forest tracks in the South of Wales."

Tirabassi's seven point lead means that the only way he can be beaten in the series is that he does nor finish the final event in Britain, and that Canellas comes 1st or 2nd in the category, or that Tirabassi finishes within the top six places whatever Canellas does. Only Canellas can now beat him.

by Marco Tenuti