Abarth factory drivers Anton Alen and Andrea Navarra seen in action on last year's IRC-counting Rally Russia which was won by the Finnish youngster, his first win for the Italian team.

An unprecedented number of crews have signed up to go rallying in Russia next week. And while some slight changes in the final entry list are still possible, it already includes 83 crews: 27 of which will be fighting for victory in the general classification of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC).

The Abarth team will be fighting to repeat the sensational win last year by Anton Alén on this rally, the Finnish youngster's first in the Super2000 car, and get its IRC title aspirations back on track, especially vital as Peugeot have collected maximum scores on all three rounds held so far this year. Last weekend on the Ypres Rally in Belgium Abarth's challenge suffered, and Giandomenico Basso was the only runner in the Italian Super2000 machine to finish in the points. The result was even more disappointing as Basso was using a new engine which was hoped would elevate the car's performance.

The factory duo of Basso and Alén will lead out a four strong line-up of Grande Punto Abarths in Russia as the Italian team targets back-to-back wins on the gravel surface rally. They will be helped by the reappearance of former FIA World Rally Champion Didier Auriol who has come out of retirement this year to contest a selected number of IRC rounds. Showing that he has lost none of his famed speed and ability, the Frenchman turned back the clock in Portugal in May on his debut in the S2000 car, and set a quick pace before problems slowed his challenge. Spaniard Dani Sola will drive a fourth example, while Marco Cavigioli will be in action as usual in the 2WD Cup driving the Fiat Grande Punto JTD.

The Rally Russia's newfound status has led to a lot of serious interest in both Russia and Europe, with organisers being forced to extend the entry list. Not just that, but the overall route of the rally has been extended for this year as well, with 70 kilometres extra of competitive timed stages as compared to 2007. The start list has now been fixed at 83 crews from 10 countries.

As well as the Abarth runners, amongst those coming to Vyborg and St. Petersburg include Nicolas Vouilloz, who holds second place in the IRC standing and Freddie Loix, the winner in Ypres. Both are entered under the Peugeot Belgium banner in the 207 S2000. Good news for Abarth too is that series leader Luca Rossetti is skipping the rally due to budgetary although the appearance of Juho Hanninen at the wheel of a third Kronos-entered Peugeot 207 S2000 is sure to be a dark horse. Basso won't be the only former FIA European Rally Champion in action next weekend as Frenchman Simon Jean-Joseph is on the entry list and will start at #1 in the new Citroën C2 R2 MAX.

The visiting drivers will be challenged for victory by the best Russian rally drivers including Evgeniy Novikov, Evgeniy Vertunov, Alexander Zheludov and Andrey Zhigunov because, as well as being the fourth round of the IRC, the event also counts for the Open Russian Championship.

In contrast to last year, most of the European crews already know what to expect from Rally Russia. But they will be hard-pushed to beat the locals – as was demonstrated by Evgeniy Novikov’s giant-killing performance of last year. So the fight promises to be a tough one and it’s almost impossible to predict a winner. The start takes place on St. Isaac’s square in St Petersburg on July 10 from 5pm.