Training for Sunday’s Race of Champions event got underway in the confines of the new Wembley Stadium today with a host of top race and rally stars getting their first taste of the Grande Punto Abarth.

Training for tomorrow’s glitzy Race of Champions event got underway in the confines of the huge new Wembley Stadium in London today with a host of the world's top race and rally stars getting their first taste of the international rally title-winning Super2000 Grande Punto Abarth.

Now in its 20th edition the end-of-year Race of Champions pits the top motorsport stars against each other in identical competition cars, and as well as the potent Grande Punto Abarth, the line-up of machines this weekend includes the rally-winning Ford Focus WRC07, the circuit racing Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24, Solution F’s new DTM-style GM Astra racer and the traditional ROC ‘Buggy’.

At a press conference this lunchtime to introduce the drivers to the press there was a light atmosphere but still a determination to win on the part of all the stars, and with the pilots not being faced with having to explain a bent machine to an irate team boss, more risks could be taken. Scottish F1 veteran David Couthard said “he was looking forward to sliding the cars” and professed to have ‘improved’ over the years that he had taken part.

The ROC format was devised by former French rally winner Michele Mouton, and two decades on she is still firmly at the helm. “I’m happy with the track,” she told the press, she pronouncing to be “the best yet”. She said they had worked to make the track faster, to "open up the bends" and to make it "more technical". Initial reports from the drivers said that the track was very slippery, one team manager saying it was ‘lethal’ out there. Fireworks could be expected.

The practice sessions started somewhat erratically as organisational issues were ironed out but as it approached 4 o'clock and the light fell the action started to hot up on track as the drivers went out in pairs to familiarise themselves with the temporary circuit and the unfamiliar machines.

The light and nimble four-wheel-drive Grande Punto Abarth is very suited to this tight circuit with its short but fast straights and technically demanding hairpin bends. The rally stars excelled in the Italian machine and five times Norwegian rally champion Henning Solberg was the driver to stand out, hustling the Abarth machine around the stadium in real rally driver style: sideways. In fact he spent most of the lap with the back end out. Brother Petter, the 2003 FIA World Rally Champion, was also very quickly into his stride, revelling in the conditions, and turning in an assured performance in the Grande Punto; these two will be ones to look out for on the timesheets tomorrow.

For Italian fans seeing seven times F1 World Champion and undisputed Tifosi legend Michael Schumacher getting to grips with the Grande Punto Abarth wasn't a moment to be overlooked and the German star was fast and stylish in the super2000 machine, and in fact ebullient in all the cars, delighting the sparse media representation in the huge stadium with tyre smoke in abundance during his stint at the wheel of the Solution F racer.

While the familiar red and white painted Grande Punto Abarths with their 'scorpion' deal are more used to seeing Giandomenico Basso, Andrea Navarra, Anton Alén and Umberto Scandola behind the wheel, today saw a who's who of motor sporting names sample the two-litre normally aspirated car including F1 stars David Coulthard, Sebastian Vettel and new McLaren-Mercedes signing Hekki Kovalainen-as well as Schumacher-while rally heroes included the retiring double FIA WRC champion Marcus Grönholm, also a former ROC winner, and Colin McRae's brother, Alister. Newly crowned FIA World Touring Car Champion (for the third consecutive time) Andy Priaulx also got behind the wheel as did four times Champ Car World Series champion Sébastien Bourdais and seven times Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen.

The new Wembley stadium was imposing with its huge empty stands towering upwards and as night fell the blazing lights of the stadium and the cars' headlights pierced the gloom creating an atmosphere that should be magnified many times tomorrow when the stadium is full of an estimated 40,000 spectators and the stars are racing for the Nations Cup as well as the outright prize as 'Champion of Champions'.

Meanwhile the Grande Punto Abarth will have the chance to show itself off in front of the spectators tomorrow as well as a global TV audience expected to be in excess of 200 million. And suited perfectly to the demands of this area it will be sure to shine.

by Edd Ellison at Wembley Stadium