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It was a one-two
finish for the Fiat Punto Abarth Rally Super 1600 on the
final event of 2004 Italian Rally Championship, the 88th
Targa Florio.
Paolo Andreucci,
with Anna Andreussi as usual co-driving, and Giandomenico
Basso, with Mitia Dotta alongside, dominated the race and
reached the finish line in first and second places, ahead of
their main Super 1600 rivals, Citroen's Luca Rossetti and
Renault's Andrea Dallavilla.
The Fiat Punto Abarth Rally won seven of the event's eleven
special stages, with six fastest times being taken by
Andreucci, while Basso claimed the other.
Thanks to this result the Super 1600 class Fiat Punto Abarh
has won more rounds of the Italian Rally Championship than
any other car: five wins from eleven events.
Those five wins came on the Ciocco, Mille Miglia, San
Martino di Castrozza, Alpi Orientali and of course the Targa
Florio, rallies. Other manufacturers to win Italian events
this year were Subaru, Renault and Peugeot.
With the final
points table now up, Fiat have scored a superb one-two in
the Trofeo Nazionale CSAI classification for Super 1600
cars, with Andreucci coming first and Basso, after a late
season charge, finishing as runner-up.
It was
Andreucci's second consecutive Targa Florio victory, and it
adds to an impress roll-call of Fiat wins on the events,
harking back to the days when it was one of the world's most
challenging, and famous races.
Felice Nazzaro won the second ever Targa Florio in 1907,
while Giulio Masetti won in 1921, Fabio Colonna in 1957,
Vudafieri and Mannucci claimed it at the wheel of a Fiat 131
in 1979, while Pasutti and Stradiotto took victory a year
later in a similar car.
The 88th Targa
Florio, the eleventh round of this year's Italian Rally
Championship, was scheduled to run to two legs over two days
with twelve special stages, eventually reduced to eleven,
with a total distance of 629km, of which 200km would b timed
special stages.
Run on all
tarmac, the event would be expected to suit the light and
agile front wheel drive Fiat Punto Abarth runners, and so it
was to prove, as Paolo Andreucci, the 2003 Italian Rally
Champion, took the lead of the event after the fifth special
stage, and held onto it comfortably until the finish line
loomed clear. |
