Abarth are currently developing an evolution version of the Super2000 category Grande Punto Abarth rally machine as they bid to bounce back next year and wrest the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) title away from Peugeot's hands. The new Grande Punto Abarth Evo will be homologated just in time for the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally in January and its arrival will be vital to the Italian team as the competitive bar is expected to be raised once again next year in the IRC, with this year's championship winners, Peugeot, firmly committed to another full campaign to defend their crown, along with the arrival on the scene of the new Skoda Fabia S2000, which has been undergoing an extensive test programme this year in readiness for a 2009 challenge.

The FIA sanctioned Super2000 regulations, which were devised to offer a cheaper alternative to the runaway costs now associated with the WRC (World Rally Championship) cars, call for 2.0-litre normally aspirated rally cars, with limited electronic 'driver aids', and fitted with a stock-sourced gearbox and four-wheel-drive transmission, adding up to a total car cost of 150,000 euros. The Grande Punto Abarth S2000, launched in anger in early 2006, was the first car to be factory built to these new regulations.

The Sadev supplied stock transmission system has proved to have some reliability issues, although Abarth seems to have been affected this season more so than Peugeot. A second FIA appointed transmission supplier, X-Trac, was approved this year and the Grande Punto Abarth Evo will be fitted with this new alternative which has proved competitive in early testing by the Italian team. As well as the X-Trac transmission the Grande Punto Abarth Evo will see improvements made to other all the key parts of the rally car, including new suspension arms to address an area that has been troublesome for Abarth this year. Other changes come with a brand new rear axle, new power steering system, and a new exhaust. By contrast Peugeot will only incorporate only detail changes for Monte Carlo, but a new homologation is expected from the French carmaker during 2009.

Abarth will target wresting the IRC titles away from Peugeot's grip next year, the Italian factory having shown its mettle this year fighting back after a string of early season misfortunes left the team with a mountain to climb in the points classification. However Giandomenico Basso fought back brilliantly in the latter half of the season, only missing out on victory on the island of Madeira due to an incorrect tyre choice, and then taking back-to-back victories on the Rally Principe de Asturias and Sanremo Rally to keep in with a chance of the title, before finally conceding the crown to Nicolas Vouilloz on the penultimate round of the season, the Rally du Valais, last month.

Since the Grande Punto Abarth (then known as the Fiat Grande Punto S2000) debuted onto the rally scene in the hands of Paolo Andreucci and Andrea Navarra on the opening round of the 2006 Italian Rally Championship, the Rally del Ciocco, in March 2006, as the first of the new dramatic breed of factory-built Super2000 rally machines it has claimed the IRC title in 2006 (Basso), the Italian Rally Championship in 2006 (Andreucci) and 2007 (Basso), and the European Rally Championship in 2006 (Basso).