FLAVIO GUGLIELMINI 1971 - 2009: Well known to Fiat rally fans for his time as co-driver with Giandomenico Basso in the Fiat Seicento and Punto S1600, he was sadly involved in a fatal accident while taking part in the Rally Bulgaria yesterday

Giandomenico Basso, at the wheel of a privately-entered Grande Punto Abarth, has taken a comfortable victory in the tragedy-hit 40th Rally Bulgaria, his third win on the event, to boost his push for the European Rally Championship title

Giandomenico Basso has raced straight into a clear early lead in the 40th Rally Bulgaria which kicked off this morning as the Grande Punto Abarth driver seeks his third maximum points score of the FIA European Rally Championship season

Luca Rossetti agonisingly missed out on winning the Rally di San Crispino, the sixth round of the Italian Rally Championship on the very last stage at the weekend after a puncture pushed the Abarth factory driver down to third place

Giandomenico Basso eventually prevailed to claim third place in Russia yesterday after a rally-long battle with his team mate Anton Alén and the Proton of Guy Wilks, his podium slot the best result for the Abarth factory team in the IRC this season

The Rally Russia has shown a step forward in pace for the Abarth team but both Giandomenico Basso, now holding third place, and his young team-mate Anton Alén have had their share of problems as the event goes into its final day

Abarth suffered a big setback to its challenge to win the Rally Russia during last night's opening four stages with Giandomenico Basso and Anton Alén both winding up nearly a minute and a half down at the end of the frantic first day's action

Following a productive test in Italy last week Abarth factory drivers' Giandomenico Basso and Anton Alén will kick off their bid for a first IRC win of the year when the Rally Russia when the event gets underway with the first four stages this evening

Abarth factory driver Anton Alén has vowed to bounce back from his torrid first half of the season – and he’s aiming for a win on this weekend's next Intercontinental Rally Challenge round, the Rally Russia, and repeat his win of two years ago

Kimi Raikkonen is preparing to take his budding rallying career onto the world stage when he takes part in the Neste Oil Finland Rally, the ninth round of the FIA World Rally Championship which gets underway on July 30 in his Grande Punto Abarth

The factory Grande Punto Abarth S2000 of Luca Rossetti and Matteo Chiracossi has collected second place on the 37th Rally di San Marino Rally, the fifth round of the Italian Rally Championship, to keep the Italian's title hopes on track

Abarth's disastrous Intercontinental Rally Challenge season got even worse in Ypres last night as Giandomenico Basso dropped down the leaderboard on the final leg to finish eighth and collect just a solitary championship point

Heading into today's final leg of ten stages that conclude the 44th Belgium Ypres Rally Giandomenico Basso is left to uphold Abarth factory honour having battled his way up to fourth place overall by the time the opening day finished late last night

ItaliaspeedPhotoStream: Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Rd 5 - 45th Belgium Ypres rally, Leg 1

Abarth has dropped Anton Alén for this month's vital Belgium Ypres Rally and instead will draft in highly experienced local driver Bernd Casier to line-up alongside Giandomenico Basso in the factory team's brace of Grande Punto Abarths

Four specially-equipped Fiat Palio Adventure Lockers were used by the police force of Córdoba on the rough, rock strewed tracks of the recent FIA World Rally Championship's Rally Argentina to oversee spectator security and safety

Kimi Raikkonen's first rally on asphalt and outside his native Finland ended pretty quickly following an accident on SS3 of the Rally della Marca but not before the Ferrari F1 star had turned in some quick times in his Grande Punto Abarth

Kimi Raikkonen will be back behind the wheel of his potent Grande Punto Abarth S2000 this weekend, but unlike his first two rallies earlier this year he will swap the freezing snow and ice of Finland for the smooth, fast asphalt of Italy

Abarth's Luca Rossetti has written his name into the Targa Florio history books after winning the 93rd edition by the slenderest of margins after a titanic battle with Paolo Andreucci which saw them separated by just 6.1 secs at the finish

Both the factory Grande Punto Abarth drivers failed to make the top-10 on the final leg of the SATA Rally Açores with the no points score leaving the Scorpion brand with a mountain to climb if it is to haul itself into the championship running

Anton Alén is the leading Abarth driver on the Rally Açores after a strong drive on the opening day which featured constantly changing surfaces conditions and the Finn is currently just one place off a podium slot going into the final leg

Photo Gallery: Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Rd 4 - 44th SATA Rally Açores (Grande Punto Abarth S2000)

The factory Grande Punto Abarths of Giandomenico Basso and Anton Alén go into action this morning on the SATA Rallye Açores, the fourth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, which takes place in Portugal over the next two days

This weekend the Fiat Rally Team will go into action on 12th Rally Internacional de Erechim looking to build on their winning start to the 2009 Brazilian Rally Championship and using the new Fiat Palio Abarth Rally (2010) for the first time

Lamborghini missed out on victory as the Targa Tasmania came to an end this afternoon with Kevin Weeks crashing out of the lead battle although Jason White in a similar Gallardo Superleggera salvaged Raging Bull honour with second place