Michał Sołowow will contest the European and Polish Rally Championships this year with the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 run by the Cersanit Rally Team and supported again by Fiat Auto Poland. Photos: Sołowow has been testing the Cersanit Rally Team's Grande Punto Abarth in 2008 livery.

Michał Sołowow and Maciek Baran will continue this year with the cooperation with Fiat Auto Poland that originated last year. As regards the worldwide change in strategy of Fiat in marketing only in two countries running semi-factory official rally teams have remained: Poland and Turkey.

The Turkish Tofas Rally Team (Volkan Isik as the driver) will compete in FIA European Rally Championship this year while Michał Sołowow and Maciek Baran will start in Grande Punto S2000 both in the Polish and European Championship.

"Since last year our cooperation with Fiat was really good," said Sołowow. "We are very glad that Fiat Auto Poland has decided to continue it. We will be provided with technical and organisational support and get access to the factory know-how this year too. We come into much closer relations with Abarth.

"The Grande Punto S2000 is being constantly developed not only by 'factory' teams but also by the 'private' ones. It seems our experience was important for Abarth. Since the Krakowski Rally (second round of the Polish Rally Championship) we will be provided with the newest available specification of Punto S2000," Sołowow added.
 
"Our knowledge of Grande Punto S2000 has been much more profound than last year but the support from the factory is indispensable for the excellent preparation of the car," said Baran. "So we were very satisfied with the Fiat Auto Poland proposal to continue the mutual cooperation. People who work for this company feel the way the motorsport is running on and seem eager to help us. Our primary goal is to win the Polish Rally Championship however the list of candidates for the title is quite long. We would like also to make a satisfactory result in ERC. We hope this season will be fruitful for both sides," concluded Baran.

"It is a good news for all fans of rallies in Poland, they can watch Michal Sołowow and Maciek Baran in Abarth Grande Punto S2000 again," says Marek Kisz, the Marketing Director of Fiat Auto Poland. "We keep our hand up in support for our team. We expect success. We believe this crew and this car can make it this year.

The Fiat Cersanit Rally Team will start in all nine rounds of the Polish Rally Championship and in all events of ERC except the Madeira Rally. They also plan to enter World Rally Championship – the Wales Rally GB 2008.

The Cersanit Rally Team has also been supporting the safety of the Polish Rally Championship for more than two years. This year the team is going to deliver about 5,000 whistles to organisers of each event of PRC. They come to all marshals and other officials securing the each rally. Whistles will be distributed also among spectators. "We came up with this idea during our starts abroad. In European and World Championship every marshal is equipped with the 'warning whistle'. As one of the biggest rally-team in Poland we feel responsible for the safety. This is the reason we give away whistles both to organizers and spectators," Baran said. Last year the Cersanit Rally Team distributed more than 7000 whistles with the “safety-in-rally” instructions.

The Cersanit Rally Team has summed up its 2007 season: Last year Michal Sołowow and Maciek Baran toot part in 19 rallies in 12 countries. They finished 251 stages with a total length of 4,020.07 km. In comparison: the distance between Kielce and Lisbon is 3,553 km. Including 'shakedown and liaison' kilometres they took in nearly 13 thousand kilometres, and in the rally car they spent together 391 hours. The crew used up 340 tyres and 4,600 litres of gasoline. The average speed on the all stages in Polish, European and WRC stages was 96.03 km/h. They reached the highest average speed in the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 during the Nikon Rally in Poland (wet asphalt), and on gravel they did 112.98 km/h in Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX during the Orlen Rally (Poland). The highest average speed in European Rally Championship was at INA Croatia Rally – 98.19 km/h. In 2008 Cersanit Rally Team is going to enter 22 events, three more than last year.