The battle for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge 2WD Cup title is set to go to the wire as Fiat Grande Punto JTD driver Marco Cavigioli (above on the Sanremo Rally) reveals he will travel to China in a bid overturn his points deficit and seal the championship.

The battle for honours in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) 2WD Cup category is poised to go down to the wire on the season-closing China Rally after a dramatic Rallye du Valais. Both title protagonists – Marco Cavigioli (Fiat Grande Punto Diesel) and Alessandro Bettega (Honda Civic Type R R3) failed to finish in Switzerland, because of different mechanical problems.

With one round to go, Bettega leads the standings by three points from Cavigioli. However, while Bettega has confirmed that he will not go to China, Cavigioli says that he will take the title fight down to the last round in the two-wheel drive class.

“We’ve had a lot of bad luck, but we still want to win the title, so we will go to China,” commented the Italian. “This is a championship that I hope we could have wrapped up a lot sooner in the year, but now it looks like we’re going to have an exciting conclusion to it! So we go to China just to see what happens, but if Alessandro ends up winning the series, I will be the first to congratulate him.”

Bettaga has 18 points with one round remaining, Cavigioli has 15 pts, while third placed Yagiz Avci, who won't travel to China either, has 14 pts. Peugeot (86 pts) is assured of victory in the IRC 2WD Cup manufacturers’ standings, but there is a big fight for second place between Fiat (64 pts) and Honda (60 pts).