Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) overall points leader Andrea Navarra hopes to win the 48th edition of the Rali Vinho Madeira next week at the wheel of his factory Grande Punto Abarth S2000. Despite being a gravel surface specialist he is expecting to go well on the fast asphalt of the Atlantic island - and he has a winning car in the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 - as Giandomenico Basso demonstrated during the previous edition of the Madeira rally. Talking to event's website, Navarra started by saying he hopes to "win", leading from the start. But he points out: "I am leading the Intercontinental Rally Challenger with a seven points advantage over Ojeda." And so he has only one primary goal: "I hope to remain ahead of Ojeda after this rally. Above all, I also expect to win."

Andrea Navarra has not seen the roads of Madeira before. However he will be able to count on the close support of team mate Basso, who race to a clear victory on the difficult island event last year, and led until an electrical fault sidelined him on the final stage the year before that: "He will help me on the more difficult stages," said Navarra. Concerning his car, Navarra is very pleased: "The Grande Punto Abarth is a fantastic car, and so far it has proved to be better than the other S2000 cars overall.. In the end, Navarra left a message to the public: I hope the Madeiran public, mainly the rally fans, give me the same support they give my team mate Giandomenico Basso."
 

The experienced Italian Basso has been brought into the IRC team because of his additional knowledge of the stages compared to his young compatriot Umberto Scandola who was scheduled to drive the second Abarth & Co factory entry. With the IRC manufacturers’ rankings so finely balanced – Peugeot and Abarth are currently tied in the lead of the teams’ standings on 48 points each – the Italian constructor is doing everything to capitalise upon every single possible advantage.

Given Basso’s established track record in Madeira, Scandola was happy to stand down in favour of his more experienced team mate. The young Italian driver will still compete on further selected rounds of the IRC this year, at present his Abarth factory programme has involved sharing the car with another future star, Anton Alen (who won the last round of the IRC in Russia). Scandola has been undertaking asphalt rounds while the Finn concentrates on the gravel ones. An Abarth spokesman commented: "It is just a question of deploying our resources in the most efficient way, which everybody understands."