italiaspeed.com

Just when it couldn't get any worse for Abarth Anton Alén suffered a dramatic finish to the Monte Carlo Rally during the night when his Grande Punto Abarth's clutch failed on the road section back to the podium in Monaco. In the end Alén was forced into a last-minute retirement from sixth place, with the finish tantalisingly close.

Alén had shown himself capable of setting top stage times throughout the rally, but the Finnish youngster's progress up the leaderboard was limited due to some incorrect tyre choices and an engine problem that reared its head on the final day.

Nonetheless, the young Finn had done a fantastic job to show all his natural speed and still seemed set for a points-scoring finish on his first Monte Carlo Rally - despite limited testing before the event. "It's an extremely disappointing way to end the rally," said Alén. "However that is life sometimes. Next up is the Curitiba Rally in Brazil, which will be an exciting new experience for everybody."

With Alén's departure from the standings, his sole surviving team mate Giandomenico Basso is the factory's top representative in the final classification of the Monte Carlo Rally, coming home in fifth place. However the privately-entered Grande Punto Abarth of Olivier Burri, moves up the finishing order from eighth to seventh place to provide two vital extra manufacturer's points for the Italian brand after losing Alén's contribution.

78th Monte Carlo Rally, revised final standings: 1 Ogier/Ingrassia (Peugeot 207 S2000) 4h40m45.7s; 2 Loix/Smets (Peugeot 207 S2000) +1m43.6s; 3 Sarrazin/Renucci (Peugeot 207 S2000) +2m21.6s; 4 Kopecky/Stary (Skoda Fabia S2000) +3m17.3s; 5 Basso/Dotta (Abarth Grande Punto S2000) +4m28.0s; 6 Romeyer/Fournel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) +20m30.0s; 7 Burri/Gordon (Abarth Grande Punto S2000) +21m23.0s; 8 Artru/Virieux (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) +9m51.4s