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Who is VITTORIO CANEVA

Vittorio Caneva, his competition history...

Born in Asiago (Vicenza) in 1957, Vittorio Caneva began his racing career in 1976, participating in both national and international races in a Group 2 Fiat 127 and an Opel Kadett GTE. In 1979 he participated in the Trophey A112, where he proved to be a fast driver and managed to complete the season in fifth place.

The following year Caneva participated in the same championships with a Jolly Club vehicle and placed 2nd in the final standings by winning two races and collecting numerous podium placings.

In 1982 he was hired by Citroen Italy who entrusted him with the small Group B Visa. This vehicle led him to place 2nd in the Italian Group B Championship and to win the group at the San Remo World Rally.
This led to a three-year collaboration with Citroen, with amazing results for the small engine capacity of the vehicle, including a 4th overall at Piancavallo and various other top-ten rankings.

In 1984 Caneva raced the Visa 1000 Piste 4-wheel drive at the Emerald Coast and was the 2nd Italian racer to compete with a 4x4 in an official race. With this 4x4 vehicle, Caneva classified 3rd place all round in the Gran Sasso rally at Teramo.
This vehicle was later found to be rather untrustworthy because of the excessive distances in the Italian Open Championchips that year, but still managed to make an impression with the excellent times that this small car obtained.

In 1985, Caneva moved across to Ford Italy where he was occupied with the debut of the Group A Escort Turbo.
This vehicle unfortunately did not often make it to the finish, but still allowed Caneva to confirm his driving capabilities and at the end of 1986 he was acclaimed as one of the best Italian drivers.
Precisely because of these capabilities he was hired by Lancia to race the world rally championship in the N Group. There he was also involved in the testing of the brand new Delta 4 WD in both Group A and in Group N. Even though he proved to be a fast and professional driver, the group decided to utilize other drivers for it’s future projects.

At this point Caneva decided to manage his own programme, but soon had to give up because of lack of funding.
At the prospect of returning to the Italian Championsip Caneva preferred to withdraw from competition and decided to move on, turning his knowledge and passion into the creation of the rally school that boasts his name.
The school was immediately successful, thanks also to the direct participation of various “big” name rally drivers in the various courses organized at the school. For four winter seasons the Vittorio Caneva RALLY SCHOOL managed the Lago Losetta track in SESTRIERE, the only permanent winter track in eEurope, organizing courses for all the best known car and tire producers. In 1996 Caneva began collaborating with Piero Liatti, the only Italian driver to race in the World rally championships.

This has allowed Caneva to remain in close contact with the rally “bigs” (He co-operated with champions as Biasion, Alen, Toivonen, Cerrato, for manufacturers as Pirelli and Michelin, Ford, Lancia, Subaru, SEAT, Hyundai, he joined tests and shakedowns in every World Rally Championship event) and to constantly update his knowledge of the frenetic development of the cars by following as many races as possible in order to transmit up-to-date and accurate information to his students. From 2004 Vittorio Caneva coaching Gigi Galli official driver Mitsubishi WRC.