20.09.2004 The JWRC Fiat Punto pilot's lined up in Wales at the weekend and were immediately pitched into a battle to survival the appalling conditions that the Rally GB threw at them

The Junior World Rally Championship Fiat Punto pilot's lined up in Wales at the weekend and were immediately pitched into a battle just to survive the appalling conditions that the Rally GB threw at them.

Five JWRC Punto Abarths were present as the rally got underway on Thursday evening with a spectator-friendly "Super Special" stage, held at close to Cardiff, the Welsh capital city.

Two Italian crews, Alan Scorcioni and Silvio Stefanelli, and Luca Tabaton, son of former rally star Fabrizio, who incidentally is the team owner, and Gisella Rovego, were entered by HF Grifone, the cars running in the long-established team's familiar silver colours.

The other three crews were at the wheel of Hi-Tec prepared cars. The trio comprised of San Marinese youngster Alessandro Broccoli, paired with Italian co-driver Giovanni Agnese, the familiar all-Spanish line-up of Xavier Pons and Oriol Julia, and finally the Italian driver Luca Betti, and new co-driver Michele Rosso. Betti, the winner of the Italian Trofeo Stilo last year, returned to the Fiat stable for this event after recently campaigning an Auto Sport Italia-run Peugeot 206.

Alan Scorcioni got the ball rolling, running out the fastest of the Punto brigade around the televised 2.45-km Super Special where the cars ran in pairs, parallel to each other, his 2 min 22.2 second time just 0.9 up on Broccoli.

No less than twenty JWRC runners arrived for this event, these young stars of the future keen to experience the legendary demands of the Welsh forests. Many of them would be racing on its rutted, hazardous tracks for the first time.

It was the latest stop on what has been a steep learning curve that began way back in January on the Monte Carlo, and has since included some of the sternest of tests, including the Acropolis Rally, a real car-breaking event which decimated the Punto field.

The massed ranks of the factory Suzuki team have dominated proceedings all year. Their operation visually appears on a par with the big WRC teams, their bright yellow cars and awnings dominating the JWRC's dedicated service area.

While the likes of Mirco Baldacci, Urmo Aava, Guy Wilks and Kosti Katajamaki would dispute Super 1600 victory for Suzuki, the Fiat Punto crews mission would be to survive the distance, learn about the conditions, and gain valuable experience.

Along the way their Super 1600 rivals would include Colin McRae protégé Chris Meeke's Opel Corsa, Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit's Citroen Saxo, and of course the numerical strong Renault Clio runners, which included Brits, Natalie Barratt and Oliver Marshall, Frenchmen Mattieu Biasion and JWRC leader Nicolas Bernardi, as well as Belgian Larry Cols, whose sister, Daisy, drives a Punto HGT on the Belgian Rally Championship with much success.

The most recent rounds of the JWRC have been categorised by a high number of retirements among the Puntos, and N-Technology, who developed the Super 1600 'Abarth' version have been working hard to improve the little car's gravel abilities.

Last week on the Rally dell'Adriatico, Giandomenico Basso and Paolo Andreucci showed a distinct improvement in form on the event's loose surfaces, so there was a quiet confidence that a strong performance could be on the cards.

The Wales Rally GB had been shifted forward for the first time from its traditional November date in an effort to provide improved conditions and allow greater daylight hours. As it happened, nothing much changed, mud, rain and fog greeted the runners right from the start of the rally proper on Friday morning, and the powerful four wheel drive WRC cars had torn the surfaces to shreds by the time the front wheel drive Super 1600 cars arrived on the scene.

Despite everything that the weather threw at them, amazingly the only JWRC Fiat driver to succumb to the event was Alessandro Broccoli, who was despatched from the fray at the end of day one, rather unfortunately as he is the most experienced of the five Fiat drivers, and thus best positioned to take the battle to Suzuki. Battered and bruised, Pons, Betti, Scorcioni and Tabaton all made it to the finish line, their cars vividly bearing the scars of the Welsh forests.

Briton Guy Wilks eventually claimed victory for Suzuki, his second win of the year and a result that catapults him into the JWRC lead. The win was handed to him when team-mate Mirco Baldacci, who last year campaigned a Hi-Tec Punto, rolled out on the final morning.

Another Brit, the highly-rated Chris Meeke, took second place his Opel Corsa, just ahead of Finnish Suzuki drivers, Kosti Katajamaki and Jari-Matti Latvala.

Xavier Pons, who is rapidly gaining a reputation for nursing his car through to the finish of the toughest events, led out the Fiat Punto runner's in fifth position. In sixth place, just behind him, came Luca Betti, while Alan Scorcioni and Luca Tabaton completed matters.

Finally, mention must be made of the other Fiat Punto Abarth driver on the event, Dutchman Marcus Foss, accompanied by Briton Glen Patterson, who was running in the amateur category. The car, which is essentially in the same specification as the JWRC machines, however benefits from an unrestricted choice of tyre compounds and quantity. The pair ran consistently before unluckily retiring on the penultimate stage of the event, SS18 Margam 2.

The three day, nineteen special stage event, saw the teams based at Felindre, just a few miles north of Wales' second city, Swansea. We bring you a close-up look at the Fiat Puntos and crews in and around this service area.

by Edd Ellison at Felindre