Intercontinental Rally Challenge Anton Alen third in the Istanbul Rally

Positive result for the Abarth Team in the Istanbul Rally, first trial of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and the European Championships. The young Fin Anton Alen, partnered with Timo Alanne on the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 came third after an excellent comeback. In the early stages of the race, he had a flat tyre and had slipped down several places.
An important result for the official Abarth driver especially considering the fact that the championships run for so long over 10 races.
“For me – Alen said at the end – this has not been an easy weekend, but on a particularly slippy surface on the last leg, I managed to climb up a few positions and obtain a result that in these championships is positive both for me and the team”.
Giandomenico Basso, on the other hand withdrew at the end of the first round after his car overturned on the first day of the competition with a loss of around 12 minutes. A gap that was too large to make up in order to earn points and that led the driver to pull out of the second leg of the competition.
The overall result of the private Grande Punto Abarth S2000 was excellent as they took fourth place with Renato Travaglia, held back by a puncture in the finals, sixth place with the Spaniard Dani Solà and seventh place with the Turk Volkan Isik.
The success of the 2 Fiat Punto S1600 rear wheel vehicles with the Turk Avci is worth pointing out; he beat his teammate Kara bringing the overall number of Italian vehicles among the top ten to 6.
The next meeting of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge is the Portuguese Rally from the 8 to 10 May.


Ranking in the Istanbul Rally:
1. Rossetti-Chiarcossi (Peugeot 207) in 2 hours 24’48”3; 2. Vouilloz-Klinger (Peugeot 207) at 22”9; 3. Alen-Alanne (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) at 1’27”1; 4. Travaglia-Granai (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) at 2’09”2; 5. Kopecky-Stary (Peugeot 207) at 2’13”6; 6. Solà-Sanchez (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) at 2’14”1; 7. Isik-Ozsenler (Grande Punto Abarth S2000) at 4’46”8; 8. Loix-Buysmans (Peugeot 207) at 4’47”5; 9. Avci-Alkir (Fiat Punto Abarth) at 10’28”9; 10. Kara-Bilgeavan (Fiat Punto Abarth) at 10’38”4.

IRC Racing Drivers’ Ranking
1. Luca Rossetti ITA (Peugeot)10 points; Nicolas Vouilloz FRA (Peugeot) 8; Anton Alen FIN (Abarth) 6; 4. Travaglia ITA (Abarth); 5. Jan Kopecky CZ (Peugeot) 4; 6. Dani Solà SPA (Abarth); 7. Volcan Isik TR (Abarth) 2; 8. Freddy Loix BEL (Peugeot).

IRC Constructors’ Ranking
1. Peugeot 18; 2. Abarth 11.


Turin, 6 April 2008