The Dutch De Rooy team are ready for the tough challenge of the 30th Lisboa-Dakar Rally with their three Ginaf trucks now powered for the 6,000 km desert adventure by Iveco Cursor engines

Photo Gallery: Team De Rooy - Pre Dakar Rally Testing

Abarth will contest the Intercontinental Rally Challenge next year with two factory Grande Punto Abarths driven by reigning Italian Champion Giandomenico Basso and rising young rally star Anton Alén

The Grande Punto Abarth was right at the centre of the Nations Cup action at Wembley today with F1 stars Michael Schumacher and Heikki Kovalainen indulging in some bumper-to-bumper racing

Photo Gallery: 20th Race of Champions, Wembley Stadium - Nations Cup

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

Photo Gallery: 20th Race of Champions, Wembley Stadium - Saturday Training (II)

Photo Gallery: 20th Race of Champions, Wembley Stadium - Saturday Training (I)

TONY FALL, 1940-2007: During a long rally driving career Tony Fall enjoyed a spell in the late 60s with Lancia Corse during which he achieved much success with the pretty and compact Fulvia coupe

Michael Schumacher and a host of top track and stage stars will get behind the wheel of the Grande Punto Abarth Super2000 when the Race of Champions arrives at the new Wembley Stadium

Ben Muchemi will be in the thick of the action and driving a two litre Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV in the 4,300 kilometre long KQ East African Safari Classic rally which gets underway in Mombasa today

The Motosport Italia Iveco Trakker A190TW was right on the truck pace on the Pharaons International Cross Country Rally in Egypt as the Italian team prepares for another assault on the Dakar Rally

Perennial Dutch Dakar Rally challengers Team De Rooy will by using Iveco's 13-litre Cursor engines to power its trucks as it prepares for the challenge of winning the desert marathon in January

Renato Travaglia finished in a very close second place on the 26th Rally Trofeo ACI Como, the final round of the Italian Rally Championship, after a fighting comeback drive in the Grande Punto Abarth

A second Grande Punto Abarth is expected to tackle the Wales Rally GB at the end of the month with news that Polish privateer Michal Sołowow plans to run his Super2000 car on the WRC event

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

The Fiat Rally Team's Fábio Dall'Agnol and Marcelo Dalmut, driving the new Fiat Palio Abarth 2008 in track action for the first time, won their first Brazilian Rally Championship title at the weekend

The Grande Punto Abarth will be hitting the world stage later this month when Polish youngster Michał Kościuszko contests the Wales Rally GB at the wheel of the potent Super2000 machine

Abarth's young protégée Umberto Scandola claimed his first IRC podium today on the Rally du Valais; however an engine problem saw his team mate Andrea Navarra's slim title hopes evaporate

After two days of tough competition in Switzerland Umberto Scandola starts today's final leg in third place and snapping at the heels of the leaders as Abarth's title aspirations hang in the balance

Photo Gallery: Intercontinental Rally Challenge Rd 9, Rally du Valais (Leg 2) - Abarth Grande Punto S2000

Photo Gallery: Intercontinental Rally Challenge Rd 9, Rally du Valais (Leg 1) - Abarth Grande Punto S2000

Umberto Scandola leads the Abarth challenge on the Rally du Valais after the first leg with team Andrea Navarra facing a fight to keep his title hopes alive after a puncture left him in eighth overnight

Andrea Navarra, Umberto Scandola, Freddie Loix and Philippe Roux, will be aiming to bounce Abarth back into IRC Manufacturers' title contention when the Rally du Valais gets underway on Thursday

Renato Travaglia claimed his first win at the wheel of the Grande Punto Abarth this afternoon on the Rally d'Antibes, but for Volkan Işık a fighting third place wasn't enough to win the European title

Photo Gallery: FIA European Rally Championship, Rd 10 - 42nd Rallye d'Antibes

The penultimate round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge gets underway next week with Abarth factory pilot Andrea Navarra needing nothing less than a top result to vault him back into the title fight

Video: Grande Punto Abarth - advertisement spot

The final round of the FIA European Rally Championship gets underway this afternoon with the start of the Rallye d'Antibes and with Grande Punto Abarth pilot Volkan Işık bidding to win the title

Volkan Işık has won the 32nd ELPA Rally in Greece, the ninth round of the FIA European Rally Championship, his first European win at the wheel of Fiat Motorsports Turkey's Grande Punto Abarth

Photo Gallery: FIA European Rally Championship, 32nd ELPA Rally - Grande Punto Abarth S2000

The Abarth factory team will field Italian drivers Andrea Navarra and Umberto Scandola in the official Grande Punto Abarths for the Rally du Valais, round eight of the IRC from October 25-27

The Fiat Abarth/Tedracing team has won the  Rally Internacional de Ouro Branco, the sixth round of both the South American Rally Championship and the Brazilian Rally Championship

Photo Gallery: Brazilian Rally Championship, Rd 6 - Rally Internacional de Ouro Branco

Anton Alén has signed a three-year contract extension with the factory Abarth rally team, extending the partnership to the end of the 2010 season and building on a season of highly promising results

Finishing in second place, and by just 8.7 seconds to Luca Rossetti, in Sanremo puts a second Italian Rally Championship title into the bag for factory Grande Punto Abarth pilot Giandomenico Basso