Solid Welsh run for Italian.

2006 Fiesta Sporting Trophy International champion Alessandro Bettega enjoyed a solid end to the World Rally Championship season with a fourth place Group N finish on Wales Rally GB.

The Italian, who has driven a range of cars this season including a Ford Focus WRC06 in Corsica, tackled the event at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX - with his first experience of the car coming in the shakedown prior to the event.

Facing the prospect of running against a number of home drivers in the Group N class, Bettega went into the event looking to build confidence and improve his stage times, gradually moving up the order to finish fourth of the Production Class runners.

"It was a very difficult run," he said. "Three days with rain, fog, mud and impassable roads.More than often I had to drive without using the lights because they were all dirty with mud.

I didn't know the car very well, when I first started I was very cautious, and than as confidenge grew my performance grew, knowing that this kind of terrain wouldn't lead to any mistakes.

I would say that this has also been a very positive experience, a teaching one.

"Passing from a Ford Focus driven on concrete in Corscia to the muddy ground of Wales has not been easy, but all I wanted to do was to drive in the World cup, with any mean and on any condition."