This year won't be the first appearance of the Grande Punto Abarth in the World Rally Championship, Basso and Işık gave the car its world debut on the WRC-counting Turkey Rally back in October 2006 (above); however in dreadful weather conditions both drivers hit major problems very early on, although the cars were patched up under the SuperRally rules.

Although they will be going all out to win the 2008 Intercontinental Rally Challenge the Abarth factory rally team could appear in selected FIA World Rally Championship this year.

Abarth is running a full IRC programme this led by the reigning Italian and former European and Intercontinental champion Giandomenico Basso. "We'd like to build up some more WRC experience and I think its quite clear that our Punto could be very competitive," the 34-year-old Italian, who will have Mitia Dotta alongside as usual this year, told Autosport magazine this week.

In a no holds barred assault on the IRC drivers' and manufacturers' titles, Basso will be joined in the team by rapid youngster Anton Alén, the son of Finnish rally legend Markku. Alén, who will be co-driven by Timo Alenne, amply proved his natural pace last year during a programme of selected IRC events, which included winning the Rally Russia on his favoured surface, gravel, as well as showin himself to be adept on asphalt.

The IRC series gets underway in Turkey next weekend (4-6 April) and Basso is looking forward to challenging for victory. “It’s true that I am contesting this rally for the first time, but I have competed on other rallies before in Turkey, so I have some idea of what to expect,” he says. “We have made some small improvements to the car over the winter, so I’m feeling confident that we can be competitive from the very start.” Also providing more strength in numbers will be a semi-official Abarth entry from Renato Travaglia, who will this season be concentrating on retaining Basso's Italian title for the Abarth brand while contesting selected IRC rounds, and Volkan Işık in the Fiat Turkey Motorsports entry, who will be bidding for glory on home soil.

The intriguing appearance of the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 on the world stage at some point this year comes as the FIA announced just this week that the next generation of World Rally Cars, which will be phased in over the next two years, will be based on the new Super2000 regulations. These call for 2.0-litre normally aspirated engines, stock four-wheel-drive transmissions and minimal electronic aids. On top of this formula the FIA plans to add turbocharging and bigger aerodynamic kits.

This year won't be the first appearance of the Grande Punto Abarth in the World Rally Championship though, Basso and Işık gave the car its world debut on the WRC-counting Turkey Rally back in October 2006; however in dreadful weather conditions both drivers hit major problems very early on, although the cars were patched up and able to continue under the SupeRally rules. On last year's WRC Nestle Oil Rally in Finland, Alén drove an Abarth-assisted Punto and was in hugely impressive form, leading the GpN category (the class which Super2000 cars run in on WRC events) before he retired. Several privateers have also tackled WRC events in the Italian machine.