31st Salon Internazionale dell'Automobile e della Moto Bologna Photo Gallery: Fiat Grande Punto Rally S2000 & R3D/VK

In Bologna Fiat announced that Bruno Saby will drive a Panda on the Lisboa-Dakar Rally next month; as a former winner the event the Frenchman will bring all the skills needed to get the tiny rally car safely to the finish line

31st Salon Internazionale dell'Automobile e della Moto Bologna Photo Gallery: Miki Biasion, Bruno Saby, Luca De Meo & the Fiat Panda Dakar 2007

Fiat is Italy's national carmaker, a brand that typifies its values, and in Bologna it didn't disappoint the partisan home crowd, the high point of the press conference on Tuesday being the unveiling of the new Panda Dakar

31st Salon Internazionale dell'Automobile e della Moto Bologna Photo Gallery: Fiat press conference & Panda Dakar unveiling

Developed on the basis of a standard production car equipped with the 1.9 Multijet engine, the new Fiat Grande Punto R3D/VK has been prepared to meet the regulations of Group R which will come into force in next year

The place of honour on the stand Fiat stand at the Bologna Motor Show next week will go to one of the two Panda Cross ‘Dakar 2007’ rally cars which will be competing in the famous desert raid from January 6 to 21

Photo Gallery: Fiat Panda Cross Dakar 2007

As MotoGP star Valentino Rossi confirms that he will take part in the 2007 WRC Wales Rally GB and will consider a rally career after bikes, he is this weekend being joined by a host of motorsport stars in the Monza Rally Show

Valentino Rossi kept getting better and better throughout the three days of the Rally New Zealand, which saw him at the wheel of a WRC machine in a World Championship event for the first time since the 2002 Wales Rally GB

The Fiat Panda will embark on the adventure of its life when two 'Cross' versions fitted with the 1.3 Multijet engine, set off from Lisbon at the start of the 2007 Dakar Rally, and head through Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal

Jason and John White have won the Mt Buller Sprint in Australia at the wheel of their Lamborghini Gallardo sports car, the Tasmanian duo breaking the record time for the fastest run up the hill during the eight stage event

The new Fiat Grande Punto Super2000 rally machine wrapped up its debut year in style this week, with Paolo Andreucci and Andrea Navarra powering it to a  1-2 victory on the Italian season-finale Rally di San Crispino

As Fiat draw up ambitious rally plans for the 2007 season with the exciting new Super2000 category Grande Punto Rally comes the news that they are evaluating developing a full WRC specification machine in the near future

The Super2000 Fiat Grande Punto will face a much bigger and tougher challenge next year when it defends its International Rally Challenge (IRC) crown as the FIA have announced that the series will expand from 4 to 9 rounds

Specially developed by Supergara, the motorsports preparation outfit who build and run the machines that contest the entry-level Fiat Panda Cup, the new 157 bhp Panda Rally "Evoluzione" is the latest Fiat rally rocket

The new Super2000 Fiat Grande Punto made it FIA World Rally Championship debut at the weekend on the Rally of Turkey, and on one of the toughest of challenges possible, the new car was really tested against the odds

Paolo Andreucci has earned the new Fiat Grande Punto S2000 its third rally title in its debut year, this weekend adding the Italian Championship to its European Championship and International Rally Challenge successes

The new Super2000 Fiat Grande Punto has had a real baptism of fire on its World Rally Championship debut in Turkey this weekend, Basso fighting back from an early leg one exit to demonstrate its potential on the second leg

This morning will see S2000 Fiat Grande Punto Rally making its FIA World Rally Championship debut as a two-car entry, headed by new European Champion Giandomenico Basso goes into action on the 4th Rally of Turkey

Fiat Punto driver Paolo Andreucci won the 48th Rallye Sanremo to extend his Italian Rally championship lead, claiming three out of the six stages that were run after weather conditions forced the cancellation of the early tests

Photo Gallery: Italian Rally Championship, Rd 9 - 48th Rally Sanremo

Fiat has claimed its second Brazilian Rally Championship title in less than a month, this time Reinaldo Varela and Kz Morales in a Fiat Palio Abarth have wrapped up the N2 category on the Rally de Velocidade

Fiat will officially return to the FIA World Rally Championship in October when Giandomenico Basso and Mitia Dotta contest the WRC Rally of Turkey at the wheel of the new Super2000 Fiat Grande Punto Rally

The Fiat Grande Punto dominated the Rally del Friuli e delle Alpi Orientali, the 8th round of the Italian Rally Championship, with Paolo Andreucci and Andrea Navarra finishing 1-2, the former opening up a four-point lead in the title race