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The Rali Vinho da Madeira, which gets underway
tomorrow, boasts a top-class entry list – featuring no fewer than thirteen Super 2000
category cars - and with eight of these being the Grande Punto Abarth, the car
to beat.
The first car off the
ramp on Thursday will be the factory Abarth Grande Punto of Giandomenico Basso, who won the
event last year and who has been drafted in to support the team's efforts.
Basso arrives on the island having put in a truly storming comeback drive last
weekend on the Rally di San Crispino in Italy where he fought back up the
leaderboard to finish second overall having languished as far down as 28th place
following early mechanical troubles.
Next to leave the start ramp in
Madeira will be his Abarth team mate (and the IRC series points leader) Andrea Navarra. They
will be followed off the ramp by two more Abarths, this time being in private hands.
Car number three is the Grande Punto of Freddy Loix while car number
four is Corrado Fontana. Fontana is the first of a string of Abarth cars which
are contesting the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) this year; Madeira is
the seventh round of this series as well as being the fifth IRC event.
Then comes Turk Volkan Isik in the Fiat Motorsports Turkey run Grande Punto
Abarth who will start at number seven. In total, there will actually be eight Grande Punto
Abarths starting
the event. Newcomers to the IRC and ERC include Portuguese driver privateer
driver Vitor Sa (at no 10) and starting at no 15 will be Jose Fontes in the Fiat
Vodafone Team entry. Both are familiar with the Grande Punto Abarth as they are
campaigning the car in their domestic championship.
Polish driver Tomasz Czopik will be
starting his second event at the wheel of a Grande Punto Abarth, also chasing
ERC points. He made his debut in the Italian car during the last ERC round in
Bulgaria, where he was initially the fastest of all the Abarth runners before he
lost time with a puncture. He recovered well though to climb up to 11th place
overall by the end of the rally. Czopik earlier this year drove a Super2000 Volkswagen Polo on
selected Polish Rally Championship events as well as on the IRC and ERC counting Belgium Ypres Rally.
Peugeot – currently tied for the series manufacturers' lead with Abarth on 48 points – is
represented by five Super 2000 207s. As well as the Peugeot Spain cars of
Nicolas Vouilloz and Enrique Ojeda, Bernd Casier makes his return with the
Kronos team, and Marco Cavigioli swaps the Group N Mitsubishi he drove in Russia
for a 207 S2000.
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