italiaspeed.com

It was an unforgettable weekend for the Italian fans at the Rally Italia Sardinia, with a final fourth place overall going to Andrea Navarra's Subaru Impreza WRC, and in a terrific sixth, the blazing Gigi Galli in a Group N car Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII.

The historical Rallye Sanremo, a classical tarmac encounter on autumnal leaves of the Ligurian hinterland, has for the first time been ditched in favour of a new gravel event run over North Eastern part of Sardinia.

The rally program would see three legs comprising of nineteen special stages, making up a total of 384.23km of timed special stages, out of a total distance of 1,228.92 km. The rally started from Porto Cervo on Thursday evening, with the first leg kicking off from Olbia on Friday morning before finishing at Olbia again on Sunday afternoon.

This new challenge was the setting for the 13th round of the 2004 World Rally Championship. The starting list included also the cars of the Junior WRC. In the youngsters championship, the usual Fiat crews were lined up by the two Italian teams that regularly taking part in the series.

Hi-Tec brought three Fiat Punto Abarth cars to the event: one for the San Marinese driver Alessandro Broccoli and his co-driver Giovanni Agnese, a second for the rising Spanish star Xavier Pons and Oriol Julia, while the remaining car was piloted by Aki Teiskonen and his brother Miika. The Finnish pairing are grabbing valuable experience on the Junior rounds, although they are not registered for points this year.

The other JWRC Fiat team, HF Grifone Avvenire, lined up its usual crews: Alan Scorcioni, with new co-driver Fulvio Florean alongside, and the team owner's son Luca Tabaton, with Gisella Rovegno co-driving.

The Fiat logo was also proudly carried by its most successful crew recent years, the reigning Italian Rally Champion's, Paolo Andreucci and Anna Andreussi.

The pair were entered by N-Technology, who gave a Fiat Punto Abarth to the top-line Procar team to run of their behalf. This car incorporated the results of intensive development work that has taken place during the current Italian Championship season.

The N-Technology team applied to the flanks of the car a huge 'Scorpion' Abarth logo, on a red background, a glorious sign of this entry's official status. While the switch this year, from the tarmac-based San Remo event in favour of a gravel encounter on the island of Sardinia, would not be ideal for the Punto, a car well proven on sealed surfaces, N-Technology have been working hard all year to establish the front wheel drive car's loose surface credentials.

N-Technology's aim in taking part was to evaluate the current status of the Fiat Punto Abarth's development by pitching it straight up against the Super 1600 class benchmark: the ultra-rapid hordes of Suzuki Ignis cars run by Monster Team Europe.

The Japanese car, which suffered a difficult introduction in 2002, evolved rapidly during 2003, so that this year it has become clearly the fastest car on gravel. The Japanese car maker has invested a vast amount of money, with a plan to move up to the top class WRC within the next couple of years.

Though the talented crews employed by Suzuki in the Junior rounds have turned in unbeatable performances, Paolo Andreucci left the starting ramp with serious motivation to showcase his undoubted rallying talent, as well as the dynamic abilities of his car. To that end he was extremely successful, posting no less than four fastest times in the Super 1600 class.

Andreucci however suffered on several stages from the dust clouds left by slower crews in front of him, and these episodes left him to finish in 10th place overall position, 2nd in the Super 1600 class. At 1:58.2 adrift of the Super 1600 class winner, Per-Gunnar Andersson in a Szuki Ignis, it was a terrific result, although the Italian crew were sure that without the visibility difficulties they could have challenged for the top position.

In the JWRC, the Fiat crews ended the rally well behind the starring drivers of the championship. Highest Punto Abarth finisher was Alex Broccoli, who claimed a point by finishing in 8th place. It was a satisfying result, as time had been dropped early on when a tyre shredded on SS4, while mechanical problems severely hampered him on the final day.

Alan Scorcioni also brought his Punto home, the youngster eventually classified in 25th overall position. Tabato crashed out on Friday morning on stage two, while Pons retired during the final day after suffering mechanical failure on SS16.