Rally activities in Europe and out

This page is reserved for any rally report of Punto involved in the national rallies in Europe. For the Junior championship please click here:

Belgium

Larry Cols is running with the Belgian Punto Junior team for the whole 2003 season in the Belgian Division 1 Rally Championship. A special page is available here in the rally section.

France

I received some updates directly from the teams and the drivers of some Punto Rally K/10 running some rallies of the French series.

Eric Brunson will keep his Punto Rally complant to the K/10 specifications. He drove also with a PH Sport's Citroën Saxo Super1600 in some events. He is racing Limousin and La Rochelle rallies, and also some rounds of the French national championship. Here there are some pictures of Eric Brunson with his own red Punto Rally.


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Eric started in June his personal season with the Punto and achieved exceptional results, as you can see in Eric Brunson's special page.

Great Britain

Pesticcio secures Fiat drive

It has today been confirmed that Leon Pesticcio will drive a Fiat Punto Super 1600 in this year's Pirelli British Rally Championship.
The car will be the latest specification version of Fiat's S1600 contender, run by the Italian concern, Team Hi-Tec SRL, who are currently behind Mirco Baldacci's Junior World Rally Championship campaign.
Following meetings with Fiat and Team Principal, Fabrizio Borra, in Monte Carlo two weeks ago, Pesticcio's deal has now been agreed and a programme to contest all rounds of the PBRC, plus the Wales Rally GB, the final round of the JWRC.
Other than on Britain's round of the WRC, this will be the first time a Fiat Punto Kit car has been campaigned in the UK and the Italian manufacturer's high-revving hatchback is destined to add considerable interest to the British Championship's Super 1600 category.
As his surname suggests, Pesticcio has Italian ancestors and sees this association with Fiat as an excellent step forward in his rallying career.
"I am very pleased that I have been able to secure a drive with the team and to now have my plans in place for this season, said Pesticcio. "This is by far the best of the options that were available and I see this as a great opportunity for me. I just can't wait to get started."
The 21 year old from Bridgend will fly to Turin next week to commence testing in the car. He will also be joining the team on each of the JWRC rounds to gain further World Rally experience.
Pesticcio will be co-driven throughout the year by Tim Sturla from Ashby.
Further details and confirmation of sponsors for Pesticcio's 2003 campaign will be announced shortly.

Pesticcio's Italian Take Away

In light of the Rally of Wales being cancelled, Leon Pesticcio's new team, High-Tech SRL, have acted quickly and secured an entry in the Tuscany based Ciocco Rally, round two of the Italian Rally Championship.
The event takes place on the same weekend as the previously intended opening round of the Pirelli British Rally Championship and will mark Pesticcio's debut his new Fiat Punto S1600.
The Welshman's first test in the car next week will still go ahead, but the Punto will now run in asphalt specification ahead of the Italian rally, rather than the gravel trim in readiness for what was to be his home event.
Team Hi-Tec SRL, near Turin, the operation currently behind Mirco Baldacci1s Junior World Rally Championship campaign, are keen to see Pesticcio behind the wheel of his new car as soon as possible.
"At the moment this is a one off," said Pesticcio of his Italian intentions. "I still plan to compete in the PBRC this season, but the Italian Championship may prove to be an attractive option if things don't go according to plan over here."
"This will be my second ever rally outside the UK and with some of my family being from Italy, you could say it was my second home. With the event being a round of the European Championship many of the leading Super 1600 drivers will be competing and it will be interesting to measure my performance against them."
The 21 year old from Bridgend will now have to wait until the Pirelli Rally on 26th/27th April to make British rallying history, when he becomes the first driver to embark on a full UK campaign in an S1600 Punto.

 

Hungary

At the Fehervar Rallye in Hungary, Krisztián Ferencz codriven by his brother Ramón Ferencz, ended in the 15th position. Here it is a very nice pictures collection of their Fiat Punto Rally on the gravel stages from Daniel Feβl.


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Italy

The list of races where Punto cars are racing in Italy is really long. You may acces to several pages about the rallies in Italy available in this site.

Portugal

Fiat Portugal has a great rally team, which supports two crews with two cars. There is also an healthy trophy for Fiat Punto HGT gr.N:

Reunion Islands

Rijaz Issop,as team manager of Fiat Punto Rally Reunion, sent me some comment about their rallying activity: " The official dealer of Fiat in our country, decided to buy a Fiat Punto Super1600 in 2002, to promote the dynamical business of his firm. It's our team who make this car drive. The car driver is Nazir BANGUI, his co-driver is Houssen GHANTY".

There is a special page about Fiat Punto Rally Reunion team in my website, but they have also their own website at www.runnumerik.com.

Spain

Fiat Auto Spain supports also during the 2003 season Sergio Vallejo, who drives a Fiat Punto Rally for the whole Spanish championship. A special page of the championship is ready:

Turkey

Tofas Rally

Peugeot WRC team driver Bruno Thiry and his co-pilot won the 32.Tofas Rally which gives 20 points for the European Rally championship.

In each stage Bruno and his Peugeot Boznian team is at the first position with the WRC car and got 3h04\'28"7 rank totally, so they won the cup.

After Bruno and his Peugeot team, the famous Turkish crew Serkan Yazýcý-Can Okan, driving for Ford Hazirkart Rally Team got the second place in the finish podium. The young driver Serkan Yazýcý was taking place after Bruno with 1 minute difference during the rally, however on the last leg he had a puncture at Beyler stage (SS14), where he lost 5 minutes.

Volkan Isik, who was driving for Fiat Abarth Motorsport team with Punto Super 1600 kept his leading place in Super 1600 category and the third place in overall classification until SS13 as he had a puncture too in SS14. The Italian driver Paolo Andreucci, codriven by Anna Andreussi, the crew which is fighting for the Italian rally championship, got his position and became the third in overall classification and took over the winner in Super 1600 Category with a total time of 3h13\'57"3 Volkan Isik slipped off in fifth position.

This is the first competitive outing for Paolo Andreucci with Fiat Palio Super1600 and Turkish Fiat industries (Tofas) are really proud for the outstanding performance of the Tuscan driver, who was able to go so fast with a car still growing up with respect the top performance Fiat Punto from N Technology.

Ercan Kazaz-Macir Gür in A6 with Citroen Sport Turkey Team got the fourth place. The leader of group-N became Celal Gülerhan-Aras Dincer with their Mitshubishi Lancer Evo 7 for Penta Motorsport got the 7th place in overall classification.Hamdi Ünal from OMS-OSS team left the 32nd Tofas Rally on the last day because he rolled over at SS14.

Fiftytwo cars started in the organization, by Turkish Automobil and Motorsports Federation whereas thirtytwo cars managed to finish the competition. In all three days the teams completed 15 special stages, which were long for 287 km and travelled asphalt stages of 1000km as total.