Finland's hottest rallying property Anton Alén has signed a three-year contract extension with the factory Abarth rally team. The new agreement, which was announced alongside the official launch of the production Abarth Grande Punto, extends the budding Alén-Abarth partnership to the end of the 2010 season, and builds on a season of highly promising results, including Anton’s sensational first international rally win at the IRC Rally Russia in July. With persistent rumours suggesting a gradual convergence of technical specifications between the WRC and IRC, the move lays the perfect groundwork for an expanded presence by Abarth at international rallies around the world, with Alén set to form a core part of the team’s future plans.

The extension represents a vote of confidence by Abarth in the 24-year-old Finn. Widely regarded as one of the most promising talents to emerge from Finland in recent years, Alén has demonstrated his ability behind the wheel of the Abarth Grande Punto S2000 on numerous occasions this year, and not only on the gravel rounds on which he was originally scheduled to compete.

At the Barum Rally Zlín last month, on only his second-ever tarmac rally – a notoriously difficult discipline to learn for Finns brought up on gravel – he had moved up to an impressive fourth place, before going off the road on the final stage of the first leg. Perhaps such asphalt proficiency is not a surprise – his father, Fiat-Lancia rally legend Markku, was the first Finn to succeed on classic European asphalt rallies such as Corsica in the 1980s, at the wheel of another Abarth creation, the Lancia Rally 037.
 

Having spent time in the Finnish championship honing his skills, Anton main rally experience prior up to this year was in turbocharged cars such as Group N Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Lancers. Prior to his Abarth engagement, he finished second in the fiercely competitive Group N category of this year’s Uddeholm Swedish Rally in a Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

Adapting to the naturally-aspirated S2000 cars, however, has proven no problem for the gifted youngster. Anton made his Abarth debut on the second round of the IRC, the Rally of Turkey, in May. It was an impressive debut for Alén and co-driver Timo Alanne, formerly alongside Kosti Katajamäki. Having held the overnight lead, the pair finished fourth overall after losing time on the final leg with a broken brake pipe and a puncture. He would better in his next outing, the Rally Russia, with a dominant performance throughout culminating in a superb victory for himself and Alanne. In addition, aside from his IRC exploits this year, Alén was also entered by Abarth in the Neste Oil Rally Finland in early August. It was only cruel luck, with a final-day mechanical failure, which robbed him of a certain Group N victory after a strong performance.

by Shant Fabricatorian