Fiat will officially return to the FIA World Rally Championship in October when Giandomenico Basso contests the Rally of Turkey at the wheel of the new Super2000 Fiat Grande Punto Rally. The Rally of Turkey - which runs from 12/15 October - will be the very first time that one of the new breed of rally cars, developed to the new "Super2000" regulations will have taken part in an FIA World Rally Championship event.

Fiat have been looking to extend their gravel surface experienced with their new rally machine, which was only homologated six months ago. And since Giandomenico Basso and his regular co-driver Mitia Dotta wrapped up the 2006 FIA European Rally Championship title on the Rally Vinho da Madeira earlier last month, with three rounds to spare, Fiat have been examining entering a WRC event to widen their gravel experience with the car.

The Rally of Turkey will provide the Super2000 Fiat with a truly stern test on a loose surface rally as the event is all about survival; just getting the car to the finish line will be an excellent achievement for the car and team. However the Rally Turkey won't provide a direct comparison with the Group N car though as the event counts towards the Junior World Rally Championship rather than the Production series'.

In Turkey Fiat will be able to rely on logistical support from their national importer who run a highly successful front-line domestic rally team through their in-house competition arm, Fiat Abarth Motorsports. In May Giandomenico Basso and Mitia Dotta won the Fiat Rally in Turkey, the second round of the FIA European Rally Championship, getting their successful campaign to claim the title underway with a 10 points haul. He was backed up by Fiat Abarth Motorsports who finished second with a S1600 Punto driven by local stars, Volkan Işık and Güray Karacar, Burak and Alpaslan Çukurova who were fifth in a Palio S1600, while another Palio in the hands of Hamdi Ünal and Kaan Özşenler was seventh, making it a 1-2 finish in the front wheel drive category on the event for Fiat.

The arrival of the Fiat Grande Punto Rally on the World Championship scene will come six months after the exciting new Super2000 machine made its official rally debut on the Rally Del Ciocco just days after its FIA homologation was confirmed.
 

It was a winning start as Paolo Andreucci powered the four-wheel-drive, 2.0-litre normally-aspirated rally car raced to victory. Prior to the Rally Turkey the Fiat team will undertake a six-day gravel test session in Sardinia, the official wrc.com website is quoting Fiat Team Manager Nic Gullino as saying.

RALLY TURKEY

The Rally of Turkey, the 13th round of the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship, will take place on 12 – 15 October 2006, in Kemer - Kumluca – Antalya. This year’s rally will be welcoming JWRC drivers once again, after one year of absence as PWRC drivers took part in 2005.

While most of the itinerary has not been changed since, once again ceremonial start will take place Cumhuriyet Square, just as previous three years on Thursday evening. This year Akdeniz University SSS, which is located in Akdeniz University, will be run two days in a row, on Friday and Saturday evenings. Stage will be run twice consecutively on both days, therefore total distance of the stage will be 5.2 kms. The Service Park is once again located in Kemer town centre where spectators will have the opportunity to see these state of art cars being repaired between the stages. In 2006 edition of the event, Grand Haber Hotel, just 3 kilometers away from Service Park, will be served as Rally HQ just as in 2005 event.

Citroen drivers have won the Rally Turkey during all previous three editions, as in 2003 Carlos Sainz was victorious and in the following two years Sebastien Loeb finished the event on the top of the podium. In 2003 the rally was a hard winter event held in February, while the following two years saw the event held  in the heat and sunshine of June. This year it will experience the autumn weather of Antalya.