World Rally star François Duval steered the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 to victory on the 34th Rally du Condroz, the final round of the Belgian Rally Championship, over the weekend.

The 27-year-old Belgian driver has been left high and dry this year by the shortage of top seats in the FIA World Rally Championship. After contesting 73 WRC events since his world debut in Portugal 2001 he has driven for the Ford, Citroën and Škoda factory teams, winning one event (Rally Australia, 2005), visiting the podium 12 times, and setting 43 fastest stage times. However in 2006 and again this year he has made only sporadic appearances in privately-entered machinery on the world stage, with a close second place on this year's Rally Deutschland being his only recent result of any note. Like fellow WRC star and Belgian compatriot Freddie Loix, he has now looked to the emerging Super2000 category as an option to kick-start what was a promising rally career.

Last weekend would see Duval's contesting his first rally at the wheel of the Super2000 category Grande Punto Abarth, taking part in the eighth and final round of the Belgian Rally Championship, the 34th Rally du Condroz (2-4 November) where he would face a string of top-line rally drivers. With just shakedown testing in the French Automeca Sport-run car he would have a tough task on his hands to make an impact, but 'home' advantage on a rally he knows well would certainly help.

Seeded at #1 he would immediately be facing Loix, who has in recent months contested a mixed programme of Intercontinental Rally Challenge events in the rapid Grande Punto Abarth, most recently finishing a fighting fourth on last month's Rally du Valais. Loix, starting at #2 was now back behind the wheel of the Super2000 VW Polo which he has shown an impressive turn of speed in Belgian championship events this year where he has been campaigning the car, and having already turned it into a winner after claiming victory on round 2, the TAC Rally.

Larry Cols, at #3, would be the first of the GpN runners, the Belgian driving a turbocharged Mitsubishi Evo IX. With three wins so far this year and a total of 103 points, compared to nearest rival Loix's 71, Cols would come into the rally already crowned as the 2007 Belgian Rally Champion. More Super2000 diversity would come from Bernard Casier, in a Peugeot 207 S2000, a proven car which has just secured the IRC drivers' and manufacturers' titles. Bernard Munster, the winner of the Omloop Rally (round 6) starting at #5 was the first of the GpN Subaru runners, while a fourth S2000 machine would leave the start ramp, at #9 in the hands of Alexandre Busin was a second VW Polo.

Belgian rally roads are traditionally some of the fastest, dirtiest and slippiest around and always demand a huge degree of car control. Pitfalls are around every corner - just last year factory Abarth driver Umberto Scandola slid off the road on the famous Ypres Westhoek Rally (an IRC counting round) and into a small lake where his Grande Punto Abarth was submerged. The Rally du Condroz is always a tough year-end event and a total distance of 737,58 km, with 275,14 km of these being timed, would await the bumper field of 180 cars.

Bernard Casier kicked off the rally by winning the 8.09km 'Superspecial' Vieset Basre Show, but it was Freddie Loix who was in dominant form at the front of the pack, building up a lead of over 30 seconds as the first leg wore on. However disaster struck for the VW driver as an exhaust fire saw him entering the control at the end of leg 1 early as he wished to be close to a fire extinguisher. This saw Loix handed a massive 6 minute penalty overnight penalty by the stewards and with an uncatchable deficit of 5:24.5 to new rally leader Duval, the VW team abruptly withdrew. With Busin already having rolled out on SS10, VW's interest in the rally came to an immediate ending. So with 13 of the rally's 25 stages completed, Duval went into overnight parc ferme with a 30.1 second cushion over Casier (Peugeot 207) while third placed Cols (Mitsubishi Evo IX) was a massive 1:45.8 off the rally lead, meaning that the new breed of agile Super2000 machines were once again the class of an international field.

During the second leg's final 12 stages Duval was able to control the rally from the front with ease, racing to a comfortable 26.9 second victory over Casier, and, with the newly-crowned Belgian champion Cols dropping out on SS14, it was left to Bryan Bouffier (Subaru Impreza STi) to claim the final podium position, albeit a huge 4:06.4 off the Grande Punto driver. Xavier Bouch (Mitsubishi Evo VIII) was fourth while top Belgian rally star Patrick Snijers was an impressive fifth in a Porsche 993 GT3.