THE legend goes that journeyman racer Ugo Sivocci, tired of his streak of bad luck, won his first race for Alfa Romeo, the Targa Florio in 1920, in a machine adorned with the quadrifoglio , or four-leaf clover.

Eerily, the next Alfa that he drove without the green symbol on the front quarter panel of the car, a P1, was his last, as he was killed while testing it at Monza later that year.

Since then, the quadrifoglio verde has been used not only on all of Alfa’s race cars, but on the front quarters of machines special enough to earn it. The Giulietta hatch has been offered locally in a QV variant since 2011, powered by a 1.8-litre turbo four driving the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.

Alfa has updated the four-year-old Giulietta line with new exterior and interior fixings, with a new model not expected until 2016.

Selling 223 QVs against 2268 Giuliettas in total during 2014, the sportiest version does battle in a tough segment with established players like the Volkswagen Golf GTI and Ford’s Focus ST (640 sales).

This revised Series One version of the Giulietta QV has a new weapon in its arsenal, though, in the shape of the powertrain from Alfa’s newest sports car, the 4C.

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