Abarth factory driver Andrea Navarra will be looking to defend his Intercontinental Rally Challenge points lead when the second round of the series, the 36th Fiat Rally, gets underway this afternoon. He will be joined on the start ramp by youngster Anton Alen - who making his debut with the Italian team.

The Abarth factory team will face four manufacturer rivals: Citroen, Honda, Mitsubishi and Peugeot when the 36th Rally of Turkey kicks off in just a couple of hours. After facing no other Super2000 opposition on the opening round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), the Safari Rally, the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 is set to be put to the sternest test as the Spanish Peugeot importer will enter two of the new - and very quick - Peugeot 207 S2000 cars on the rally.

With cars from four other leading manufacturers arriving in Istanbul this week (Volkswagen will become a fifth rival when it enters the series from the next event - the Ypres Rally in Belgium - onwards)  the new IRC series is set to burst into life. Jacques Behar, the President of Eurosport Events, the series promoter, commented yesterday: “We are delighted to have six prestigious manufacturers, with a distinguished history in motor sport, joining us for the first full year of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Their important participation will ensure a very close competition throughout the year.” There will also be an IRC battle between three different tyre suppliers - BFGoodrich, Pirelli and Yokohama. This added diversity will lend yet another dimension to the sporting challenge this year.

With his IRC classification victory on the Safari Rally, the first round of the series, Abarth factory pilot Andrea Navarra and co-driver Guido d'Amore will go into the rally right at the top of the points classification. They will be joined in the Abarth team by Anton Alen and co-driver Timo Alenne. 23-year-old Alen, the son of Finnish rally legend Markku, will be driving in Turkey for the Abarth work team for the first time in an IRC programme which will see him share duties the second car over the season with young Italian driver Umberto Scandola.

The official IRC series launch took place in the historic city centre of Istanbul, attended by some of the world's leading motor sport media and the president of the Turkish motor sport federation Mumtaz Tahincioglu. Behar added: “The IRC aims to bring a whole new dimension to rallying, by taking the sport to the people in a way that has never been seen before.
 

"We aim to do this through a series of high-quality and innovative television programmes on Eurosport, using live broadcasts, in-car cameras and helicopter cameras. We are very pleased that these six manufacturers have supported our initiative, which is a great step forwards for us in only our first full year of competition.” For the first time, 36th Fiat Rally will host three different championships when it gets underway this afternoon: the Turkish Rally Championship, IRC and FIA European Rally Championship (ERC). It is being as usual organised by Turkish Automobile Sports Federation and will be held from 11-13 May around Istanbul.

Fiat Rally which has been organizing under the sponsorship of FIAT since 1999, turned to gravel characteristics after 12 years. Ceremonial start of the Fiat Rally will take place Sultanahmet Square on Friday, May 11th at 02:50 p.m. (local time). On the course that covers Istanbul and Kocaeli, there are 19 special stages (10 of 19 are different from each other). Total length of the course is 1201,85 km. Service Park and Fiat Super Special Stage will take place in “Pendik Park”. All crews will arrive to the finish point (as well as the Rally HQ) at “Kartal Bülent Ecevit Kültür Merkezi” by 03:20 p.m. on Sunday 13th. Prize giving ceremony will take place at the same location.

The Intercontinental Rally Challenge is a new nine-round rally series authorized by the FIA, which covers three continents (Africa, Europe and Asia). Meanwhile for the first time, two crews that have been racing on the European Rally Championship (ERC) from Turkey are going to compete against each other in Fiat Rally. Fiat Abarth Turkey crew Volakn Işık-Güray Karacar has just completed the opening Italian round of ERC and returned home with 2 points. Işık will take start in Fiat Rally with a new co-pilot, Kaan Özşenler. Second registered Turkish Team of Fiat Rally is Atölye Kazaz. Ercan Kazaz and Cem Bakançocukları are joining the Championship from the second round, Fiat Rally. They are aiming to get their first points at their home race.