Rally San Martino di Castrozza 2002
The rally of Rally San Martino di Castrozza was the eighth rally of the CIR and all the titles were to being assigned at this rally. Ratiglia with Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII has already won the Italian gr.N title for the 2002 season: he had only to be subscribed at this rally.
First of all, the most fought one was the titles got by Paolo Andreucci, who won the Super 1600 Italian Championship two rallies early the end of the championship. He was able to win at the San Martino di Castrozza, just ahead of Andrea Dallavilla, who tried to resist to the Tuscan driver, with the latest Michelin tyres and the latest Saxo engine from France, but it was not enough.
The last Fiat Punto, now given to the private teams by a new formula of renting by N Technology (the Fiat infrastructure firm that develops the Fiat Punto Rally, the Stilo Rally, the Seicento Abarth, the Alfa 147 for the Alfa Cup and the Alfa 156 GTA of the EuroTCC championship), has the latest developments in the weights distribution and engine. That car, with the last edition of the Pirelli tyres, is really unbeatable.
Then we had the third place of Luca Pedersoli in the Super1600 drivers, driving the Grifone's Fiat Punto, but we had also important retires of other Junior drivers: Gigi Galli, Christian Chemin, and Giandomenico Basso retired for technical problems. The Opel Corsa Super 1600, driven by Broccoli and Perego, were surprisingly fast and reliable, because they completed the whole rally: those cars should have been already registered also for the ADAC rally; whilst Piero Longhi retired with his last Clio Super 1600 during the SS3 after an engine failure. It has been said that the Longhi's Clio had the last engine directly from France.
I had also a talk with Giandomenico Basso, one of the Italian drivers of the Junior championship. Between under 25 drivers, Ceccato got the first place of the Super 1600, with his Punto Rally. The rally has been won by Renato Travaglia with the Peugeot 206 WRC: this victory let him get other ten points and the absolute 2002 Italian Rally championship, but in the next year he will have to abandon the WRC car in favour of the Peugeot 206 Super1600 from Peugeot France. In the meanwhile Nicola Caldani, another Italian driver, tested his Punto Rally on the tarmac of the Rally of Lucca and got the second place, a good test for the ADAC. Nicola Caldani, however, won't drive the Fiat Punto he drove at Lucca, but we will drive the latest Punto used by Andreucci at the San Martino di Castrozza. I don't know if Basso and Galli will have the same developments for their own cars in the Junior stages.
Super 1600 Starting list
NUM Driver - Codriver Car Class ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10 ANDREUCCI Paolo - ANDREUSSI Anna Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 11 DALLAVILLA Andrea - BERNACCHINI Giovanni Citroen Saxo VTS Super1600 A6 12 GALLI Gianluigi - GUGLIELMI Alessandra Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 14 PEDERSOLI Luca - CANTON Tania Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 15 LONGHI Piero - IMERITO Maurizio Renault Clio Super1600 A6 16 VAGNINI Jader - VALLE Tania Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 18 PEREGO Andrea - DE LUIS Daniele Opel Corsa Super1600 A6 19 BASSO Giandomenico - MELEGARI Zelindo Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 20 CECCATO Massimo - DOTTA Mitia Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 21 CECCHETTINI Luca - TACCINI Piero Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 22 BETTI Luca - VISCHIONI Claudio Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 23 BROCCOLI Alessandro - DE RIZZO Luca Opel Corsa Super1600 A6 24 CHEMIN Christian - SCATTOLIN Simone Fiat Punto Super1600 A6 50 RIGO Riccardo - GRASSI Mauro Opel Corsa Maxi Kit A6 51 MACCAGNAN Stefano - BATTISTI Emanuele Citroen Saxo VTS A6 52 CAPELLO Marco - PAVIA Marco Opel Corsa A6 53 GOBBO Luca - SIMIONI Giorgio Citroen Saxo VTS A6 54 RATTIN Giuliano - RATTIN Tiziano Opel Corsa GSI 16v A6
Final classification
POS NUM Driver - Codriver Car Total time Diff -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 10 ANDREUCCI P. /ANDREUSSI A. Fiat Punto 2:30'43.0 0'00.0 2 11 DALLAVILLA A. /BERNACCHINI G. Citroen Saxo VTS 2:30'57.8 0'14.8 3 14 PEDERSOLI L. /CANTON T. Fiat Punto 2:34'46.1 4'03.1 4 20 CECCATO M. /DOTTA M. Fiat Punto 2:37'22.9 6'39.9 5 16 VAGNINI J. /VALLE T. Fiat Punto 2:37'26.5 6'43.5 6 18 PEREGO A. /DE LUIS D. Opel Corsa 2:39'16.9 8'33.9 7 22 BETTI L. /VISCHIONI C. Fiat Punto 2:40'31.1 9'48.1 8 23 BROCCOLI A. /DE RIZZO L. Opel Corsa 2:40'50.0 10'07.0 9 21 CECCHETTINI L. /TACCINI P. Fiat Punto 2:43'35.5 12'52.5 10 50 RIGO R. /GRASSI M. Opel Corsa Maxi 2:45'27.9 14'44.9 11 25 STEFANI N. /CRACCO C. Fiat Punto 2:50'09.4 19'26.4 12 53 GOBBO L. /SIMIONI G. Citroen Saxo VTS 2:55'58.4 25'15.4 13 52 CAPPELLO M. /PAVIA M. Opel Corsa 3:01'34.1 30'51.1Retired
NUM Driver - Codriver Car When/Why ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 GALLI G. /D'AMORE G. Fiat Punto P.S. 13 (water cooling system) 15 LONGHI P. /BAGGIO L. Renault Clio P.S. 3 (engine failure) 19 BASSO G. /MERLIN M. Fiat Punto P.S. 5 (exit) 24 CHEMIN C. /SCATTOLIN S. Fiat Punto P.S. 10 (car burned) 51 MACCAGNAN S. /BATTISTI E. Citroen Saxo VTS P.S. 4 54 RATTIN G. /RATTIN T. Opel Corsa GSI P.S. 8
Classifications after the San Martino di Castrozza Rally
- Travaglia (Peugeot 206 WRC, 2002 Italian rally champion) pt.49
- Andreucci (Fiat Punto, 2002 Super1600 Italian rally champion) pt.25
- Navarra (Subaru Impreza WRC) pt.21
- Dallavilla (Citroen Saxo) pt.20
- Cantamessa (Subaru Impreza WRC) pt.19
- Aghini (Peugeot 206 WRC) pt.16
The CIR Super 1600 category:
- Andreucci (Fiat Punto Super 1600) pt.66
- Dallavilla (Citroen Saxo Super 1600) pt.42
- Pedersoli (Fiat Punto S.1600) pt.23
- Galli (Fiat Punto Super 1600) pt.20
- Longhi (Renault Clio S1600) pt.15
- Baldacci (Citroen S1600) pt.14
These pictures have been sent by some friends on the net. Thanks to Photo Cris for those snapshots.
Andreucci on podium |
Andreucci winner in Super1600 |
The full podium |