While Andrea Navarra was getting Abarth's 2007 Intercontinental Rally Challenge assault off to a winning start in Africa, the series reigning champion, Giandomenico Basso, was beginning his challenge for the Italian title

Andrea Navarra and the Abarth factory team this afternoon won the IRC classification of the Safari Rally, after a dramatic final leg that saw them survive a puncture and then recover from a penultimate stage gearbox failure

At the end of leg one of the Safari Rally this afternoon, Abarth river Andrea Navarra leads the Intercontinental Rally Challenge classification, however his team mate Umberto Scandola was hit by bad luck and is out of the event

The Abarth team has just completed its final testing near Nairobi in Kenya in preparation for the KCB Safari Rally which takes place this coming weekend and kicks off the 2007 Intercontinental Rally Challenge

After contesting the diesel category last year, Fiat Auto Portuguese will this year return to the top-level of the Portuguese National Rally Championship with the new Grande Punto Abarth S2000 sponsored by Vodafone

This year will see the introduction of the Abarth Grande Punto ORO DIESEL Trophy, a rally championship reserved for the Fiat Grande Punto R3D, a car designed for the international technical regulations which will arrive in 2008

As the title winning Fiat Grande Punto Abarth S2000 prepares to be a key part of the Abarth line-up in Geneva, Fiat has shuffled its drivers: Giandomenico Basso will contest the CIR while Anton Alen is drafted into the IRC

After 15 stages which have taken the competitors from Portugal to Senegal with two weeks spend in the North African desert, the Dakar Rally ended today with all three of the Iveco trucks that took part making the finish line

In a move that has been rumoured for some months, Paolo Andreucci, who has won six titles, four Super1600 and two overall, during the last five years for the Fiat brand, has left Turinese firm to join Mitsubishi Ralliart Italia

Alongside the Fiat PanDAKAR at the Autosport International this weekend was another rally machine from the same family that also punches well above its tiny dimensions, the Supergara-developed 157 bhp Panda Evoluzione

Autosport International Photo Gallery: Fiat Panda Evoluzione

Although the Fiat PanDAKARs dropped out of the Dakar Rally last week, Italian interest in the North African desert is still represented, as in the truck category three Ivecos are pounding their way through Mauritania

The Fiat PanDAKAR is headlining Fiat Auto UK's stand at this weekend's Autosport International, the tiny rally machine lining up next to its unique rally cousin, the Panda Evoluzione, and the just introduced Panda 100HP

Autosport International Photo Gallery: Fiat PanDAKAR

The Fiat PanDAKAR's African challenge has crumbled in the heat and sand of Morocco, with both of the tiny cars retiring, Miki Biasion departing from the fray after hitting a donkey, while Bruno Saby succumbed soon after

The two Fiat PanDAKARs have made it through their first day traversing the North African terrain; and today the two tiny rally cars will press on into the desert, facing another new challenge as they hit the sand dunes for the first time

Having safely made it through the first two days of the 2007 Dakar Rally, which took the teams across Portugal and Spain, the two Fiat Pandas head off into the Moroccan desert this morning as their African desert adventure begins

The Fiat Panda's Dakar Rally adventure beings today as the two tiny cars, in the hands of Miki Biasion and Bruno Saby, tackle the first stage, from Lisbon to Portimão, with 117km being timed, and a whole day distance of 464 km

At the same time as the two factory-run Fiat Panda Dakar 2007 rally cars are busy trekking across the inhospitable Sahara Desert next week, a third example will be making its way to the UK to appear at Autosport International

The preliminary operations for Dakar 2007 get under way tomorrow with the technical checks in Lisbon as the two Fiat PanDAKAR rally machines, piloted by Miki Biasion and Bruno Saby, get ready for their African adventure

Continuing what has now become a tradition for Iveco, Luisa Trucco will drive an Iveco Eurocargo ML140E24W 4x4 when the 2007 edition of the gruelling Dakar Rally gets underway from Lisbon in just less than a week's time

31st Salon Internazionale dell'Automobile e della Moto Bologna Photo Gallery: Fiat Grande Punto Rally - presented by ERG

The Alfa GT Coupé is being reborn as a low-cost rally car aimed at privateer drivers' and it will be eligible for a brand new category, the "Rally Trofeo GT", to contested by GT cars, which is set to be launched next year

31st Salon Internazionale dell'Automobile e della Moto Bologna Photo Gallery: Alfa GT rally car

In Bologna Fiat is celebrating the success of its rally championship winning new Grande Punto Super2000, while at the same time launching the Grande Punto R3D/VK machine which will form the basis of a new 'Trofeo' series