Peugeot driver Nicolas Vouilloz won the Rally of Turkey, after taking the lead of the all-gravel event on today's final afternoon. The former mountain bike champion got past the overnight leader, Abarth pilot Anton Alen on SS16, who lost time with a broken brake pipe and then a puncture. The Finnish driver, son of rally legend Makku, eventually ended up an impressive fourth on his debut for Abarth.

"I'm absolutely delighted to win the Fiat Rally of Turkey on my debut in the IRC," said Vouilloz. "Today it was really exciting when there was less than a second between me and Anton. I really enjoyed all the stages on this event, and I was able to push hard with confidence. It's been a great start!” Vouilloz had closed to within less than a second of Alen's lead before the service halt halfway through the day, after setting an impressive series of fastest stage times following a puncture on the opening day that cost him nearly a minute.

In second place was the other factory Abarth Grande Punto S2000 of Andrea Navarra, the winner of the opening round of the IRC in Africa. The Italian lost time on yesterday morning's opening leg by running first on the road, but he gradually increased his pace to end the rally in style - consolidating his IRC drivers' title lead and Abarth's lead of the manufacturers' classification. Enrique Garcia Ojeda was third in the other Super 2000 Peugeot 207, on his very first event on gravel in a four-wheel drive car.

On a rally that boasts some of the world's toughest gravel stages the Super2000 runners simply dominated the event - the Peugeots and Abarths - swapping places all event at the top of the overall leader board. The well-sorted turbocharged GpN Japanese machines made little impact in the battle for victory, a situation that graphically heralds the arrival of the new breed of Super2000 rally cars as a new force to be reckoned with in international rallying. The new Eurosport-promoted Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) also came of age with an array of top level competitors fighting it out from start to finish.

The final day of the Fiat Rally of Turkey got underway early this morning with Alen aiming to protect his 17.7 second overnight rally lead over the Peugeot 207 of Ojeda, with the second Peugeot of Ojeda's team mate Vouillez a further 30 seconds back. However on the first stage of the day (SS12) Vouillez, who had suffered a puncture yesterday and dropped down the leaderboard, went fastest, taking a massive 17.2 seconds off Alen and moving into second place overall, and just 13 seconds off the rally leader. The Abarth driver quickly responded on the next test (SS13) to bring the gap up to 13.8 seconds. The crews headed for SS14 which saw the Peugeot pilot taking 1.4 seconds back, before claiming 11.6 seconds over Alen on the next stage (SS15) and bringing the gap down to just 0.6 of a second as the crews headed for servicing after reaching the final leg's halfway point, and with just four tough tests remaining.

With the cars arrives at the scheduled service, and with his lead down to less than a second, the Abarth driver was still upbeat: "It's certainly exciting, but maybe a bit too exciting," he said. Alen reported that he had no particular problems throughout the first four stages of the final day, apart from the fact that he was now running first on the road by virtue of his rally lead. "We're finding a bit of gravel, but it depends very much on the particular stage," he said. "On the long stage this morning it was quite bad, but on the other stages it was less of a problem. In any case, the rally starts for us now. It's going to be maximum attack!"

Vouilloz, competing on only his fourth gravel rally, had a slow puncture three kilometres from the end of the first stage this morning but it did not seem to slow him down very much. "I really liked that stage: it was a lot of fun," he said. "Obviously I am trying my hardest and I am very concentrated, but I am not doing anything stupid," he said. "My plan is to try and stay with this rhythm for the final four stages: if we can get past Anton that would be fantastic but I do not want to do anything that is massively different to what I am doing already."

Isik was still third in his Fiat Motorsporlari-entered Grande Punto Abarth S2000, but by this point Navarra had fought his way past Ojeda on general classification and up into fourth. His next target was the podium, which would be a very good achievement for the Safari winner's championship points prospects.

However, at 1409 (local time) this afternoon, Alen's hopes of winning the Rally of Turkey were scuppered by a loose brake pipe on his Grande Punto Abarth as he raced through SS17. Vouilloz now looked set to win as the Finn was dropping time, and risked losing second place as two stages were still left to run. In a further twist for the Abarth team Isik reported a broken alternator, a problem which could see him lose his third place overall. Those set to profit from their misfortunes were IRC championship leader Navarra, currently in fourth place, and Peugeot's Enrique Ojeda in fifth.

As Vouilloz raced to the victory and Navarra swiftly moved up the leaderboard into a final second place, Alen slipped back to fourth and Isik suffered more dramas, taking a wheel off his Grande Punto Abarth on the very last stage. With a road penalty the Turkish star would be classified sixth after the final stage, behind Alen and the former European Champion Renato Travaglia - whose Mitsubishi was the top Group N car in fifth overall. Taking the final IRC point, for eighth place, was Citroen's Simon Jean-Joseph on his IRC debut.