Abarth's new turbodiesel-powered Grande Punto R3D rallycar, which is forming the basis of a new one-make championship - the ORO Diesel Trophy - in Italy this year, is also set to appear on two rounds of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge this year run by the factory rally team. The new Grande Punto R3D will thus be present on Italy's Sanremo Rally in September and then the Swiss-based Rallye du Valais in October, although it is of course eligible to compete on all the rounds of the IRC this year.

The Abarth Grande Punto diesel is built to the FIA's new R3 regulations, with two-wheel drive, a six-speed sequential gearbox and a 1.9 litre turbocharged Multijet diesel engine. With a generous prize fund, the new car is firmly aimed at those starting out in rallying and it makes a fascinating introduction to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge as well. Abarth team manager Nic Gullino commented: “Andrea Navarra, who drives for us on the IRC, has tested our new diesel Grande Punto and his feedback has been very positive. We've been working on the car for a while - it was the course car in Sanremo last year - and we look forward to seeing it out on the IRC this year.”

Meanwhile the second round of the 2007 IRC gets underway in just over a month's time in Turkey, and after more than 10 years, the country’s oldest international motorsport event, the Fiat Rally, will be organised on all gravel stages this year, around the Istanbul and Kocaeli roads. As well as counting towards the IRC, the Fiat Rally will also be the second round of FIA European Rally Championship. It will take place between 11-13 May 2007. Once again the Rally HQ, service park, SSS and parc ferme will be in the state-of-art Formula One circuit, Istanbul Park. The Abarth team will be taking part in Turkey with Andrea Navarra looking to defend his series points advantage.
 

As this rally will be an almost brand new event, competitors and spectators will see a number of exciting new features. The ceremonial start of the rally will take place on Friday, 11 May 2007 in the historic Sultanahmet Square, which is in front of the famous ‘Blue Mosque’. On Friday evening there will be only one stage, which will be the Super Special Stage (SSS) at İstanbul Park. The Super Special Stage, which will be run on the first two evenings of the event, is organised in the paddock area of our famous Formula One circuit, Istanbul Park. The surface of the stage will be tarmac, whereas all the other special stages are on gravel. On the second day of the event, competitors will tackle demanding gravel stages of Şile region of Istanbul. The final stage of the day will be again the SSS, held in the circuit. On Sunday, drivers will head to Kocaeli, the neighbouring city of Istanbul for a completely different set of stages.

On sporting side, the rally will consist of two days of a compact route, which is set to include 19 special stages, with a total of 251.45 kms of competitive sections. The stages of first day will be around Istanbul Park circuit mostly and on second day, the stages will take place in Kocaeli, neighbour city of Istanbul. Thanks to these features, the organisers are expecting both the audience and competitor numbers to be increased.