Francois Duval has rallied the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 before, taking it to victory on the Belgian Rally du Condroz last year (above).

Francois Duval has confirmed that he will enter the Rally de Portugal, the second round of this year's IRC (Intercontinental Rallye Challenge). The talented Belgian will pilot a Grande Punto Abarth with navigator Patrick Pivato. Duval has rallied the Grande Punto Abarth before, taking it to victory on the Belgian Rally du Condroz last year.

Duval joins what looks set to be a fantastic entry list for Rally de Portugal. As well as the works Abarth Grande Punto's of Giandomenico Basso and Anton Alén, the works supported Kronos Peugeot's of Freddy Loix and Nicolas Vouilloz amongst others confirmed or strongly rumoured to be taking the start ramp are: Jan Kopecky (Peugeot 207), Dani Sola (Grande Punto Abarth), Didier Auriol (Toyota Corolla or Punto), Gilles Panizzi (207), Juho Hänninen (Mitsubishi Lancer), Andreas Aigner (Lancer), Bernard Sousa (Lancer) plus the BFGoodrich supported 207 and a number of rapid local stars such as Bruno Magalhaes (207) and Fontes (Punto).

The Vodafone Rally de Portugal runs from May 9th-10th but the IRC season will start early next month in Turkey after the Istanbul Rally replaced the Safari as the season opener due to the ongoing political problems in Africa.

Source: rally-info.com