Volkan Işık (seen above in action during the shakedown stages yesterday) will uphold Abarth honour on his own when the fourth round of the 2008 FIA European Rally Championship, the 65th Rally Poland, gets underway in Mikołajki this evening.

Volkan Işık will uphold Abarth honour on his own when the fourth round of the 2008 FIA European Rally Championship (ERC), the 65th Rally Poland, gets underway in Mikołajki this evening, as the winner of the last round, Corrado Fontana, has swapped his Grande Punto Abarth S2000 for a Mitsubishi Lancer this weekend.

The 65th Rally Poland will consist of fourteen special stages covering a total timed distance of 272 km.  Two totally new features this year are the Mikołajki superspecial stage, which takes place this evening on the specially-built track near the Hotel Gołębiewski, and the Grabówka stage which has never yet been used during the rally. All the other tests are modified special stages known from previous years.

There are 57 crews on the rally’s entry list, including 11 from Italy, France, Turkey, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Ukraine and Slovakia.  There are as many as eight competitors from FIA priority list, which constitutes a record in the long history of the Polish classic event, who will fight with top Polish drivers over the rally distance.

The event takes off this evening (June 6) in Mikołajki, and continues through to Sunday, June 8.  This year, the ‘Rajd Polski’ is the fourth round of the Polish Rally Championship and the fourth of ten rounds comprising the European Rally Championship.

Işık, in the Fiat Motorsports Turkey-run Grande Punto Abarth S2000, will face a tough battle for ERC points with local star Michal Sołowow behind the wheel of a Peugeot 207 S2000.  Sołowow fought with Fontana for the lead of the Croatia Delta Rally, the third round of the ERC.  During the first leg, the Polish driver scored fastest times on four special stages and led the Italian pilot by over 13 seconds.  After heavy downpour and wrong tire choice followed by gearbox problems, though, the Pole was finally classified in second position. It was, nevertheless, his best-ever result since his debut in the European Rally Championship.

Sołowow and Işık will be in action in Poland and there promises to be a close rivalry for an improved position in the overall drivers’ classification.  Although Luca Rossetti is currently out of reach for both drivers, Renato Travaglia is just 7 points ahead. Fontana is the highest classified ERC registered driver in Mikolajki today. The Italian is competing behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX and has 11 points less than Rossetti, giving him a real chance to be at the top of the points table on Sunday evening. Although many claim the S2000 cars will have advantage in the chase for the victory, one cannot erase Fontana from the list of favorites.

Also noteworthy is the entry of Swede Patrik Flodin. The Scandinavian driver, however, is not a permanent competitor in ERC, and is taking part in the ORLEN Platinum 65 Rally Poland as a substitute for the injured Leszek Kuzaj.  The Subaru Poland Rally Team driver will be a dark horse on the Mazurian gravel roads. 

ERC classification (after 3 rounds):

1) Luca Rossetti: 32 points
2) Corrado Fontana: 21 points
3) Renato Travaglia: 19 points
4) Michał Sołowow: 12 points
5) Volkan Işık: 12 points
6) Anton Alén: 11 points
7) Krum Donchev: 11 points
8) Piero Longhi: 7 points
9) Jan Kopecky: 6 points
10) Luca Betti: 6 points