Bacchelli began rallying in 1971. In 1974, he joined the works Fiat team, finishing sixth on that year's Tour de Corse. He finished fourth in the 1975 Monte Carlo Rally. In 1977, he won Rally New Zealand, or the South Pacific Rally as it was then known, in his Fiat 131 Abarth.[1] At the end of the year Fiat and Lancia's rally departments merged and he lost his factory drive.
