Markku Alén, the famous father of Abarth's Anton Alén, is well-known for having driven some of Italy's most powerful rally cars throughout his career but on the Madeira Rally recently he tried an Italian car that was considerably smaller.

Markku Alén, the famous father of Abarth's Anton Alén, is well-known for having driven some of Italy's most powerful rally cars throughout his career, such as the Lancia Delta S4 and Fiat Abarth 131. But on the Madeira Rally recently, he tried an Italian car that was considerably smaller.

The new Fiat 500 Abarth is the smallest vehicle in Abarth's range, but it still packs a lot of power into a very small package, thanks to a 1.4 litre turbocharged engine that produces 135 horsepower. To celebrate the car's recent launch, Alén drove it as the 00 car on the Madeira Rally, with a variety of local journalists as his co-driver throughout the two days of the event.

"I really liked it," said the Finn, who drove for Fiat and Lancia for more than 15 years throughout his career. "I'm quite tall, but actually it was easy enough for me to get comfortable and I was surprised by how much power could come from such a small car. The handling in particular is very nice; on the twisty roads of Madeira it was a lot of fun."

The Fiat 500 has already collected a number of prominent fans: in the world of Formula 1, both Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen drive them. "The Abarth version is the best though," concluded Markku Alén. "The engineers at Abarth are the same people who work on the rally cars, so there is a really sporty feeling."

Markku Alén was actually the only representative of the Alén family in Madeira, as Anton was still recovering from a virus. He will be back for the Barum Rally Zlin in two week's time.