Bernd Casier, who won the Belgian Super 1600 title in 2004 behind the wheel of a Fiat Punto S1600 (middle), impressed on his way to fourth place in Ypres last year in the VW Polo S2000. For this year's edition he will replace regular Abarth factory driver Anton Alén (bottom).

Abarth has dropped Finnish youngster Anton Alén for this month's vital Belgium Ypres Rally and instead will draft in highly experienced local rally driver Bernd Casier to line-up alongside Giandomenico Basso in the Italian factory team's brace of Grande Punto Abarth S2000s.

Abarth desperately needs to put in a stellar performance in Ypres. After just four rounds of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge held so far this year, and effectively three as none of the factory teams contested the Safari Rally, the Italian outfit hasn't been able to get close to its biggest rival, Peugeot. It means that with just over a third of the season now gone Abarth has just 14 points to its name compared to its French rival's 52 points. However in the drivers' championship Abarth's Giandomenico Basso, although lying in fifth place, is clearly still in with a title shot, and he has 10 points compared to classification leader Kris Meeke who has 20 points.

Basso won the Belgium Ypres Rally in 2006 in the Grande Punto Abarth (which was then known as the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth Rally) the same year that his young team mate Umberto Scandola memorably ended up submerged in a lake. In 2007 the Italian was absent and Andrea Navarra took over as the leading Abarth factory pilot but was promoted to a distant third, having finished fourth, when a driver was disqualified,. Navarra had in fact battled hard to keep Casier (Peugeot 207 S2000) behind him while team mate Scandola was fifth to lock the Belgian into an Abarth sandwich. Last year Basso was back in the IRC and challenging for a podium until the closing moments of the rally when misfortune saw him drop down the order to finish sixth. Team mate Alén was twelfth.

29-year-old Casier's vast local knowledge will prove invaluable to the Abarth team in Ypres as the seek to get Basso back into the title hunt. Based in the centre of the beautiful and historic town of Ypres, this event has a long tradition of a great atmosphere and excellent promotion. The demanding asphalt roads which feature very tight turns require maximum concentration from the drivers, with traps that can catch out the unwary. Casier impressed on the rally last year when he pedalled the Super 2000 VW Polo to an impressive fourth place finish. He also has strong ties with the Fiat brand having won the Belgian Super 1600 title in 2004 at the wheel of a Fiat Punto S1600 entered by the importer-supported Fiat Punto Junior Team. In 2006 Casier contested the FIA Junior World Rally Championship in a Renault Clio S1600. In the last two years the Belgian has built up plenty of Super 2000 experience in the IRC and as well as his two fourth places in Ypres in 2007 and 2008 at the wheel of the VW Polo, he has two fifth places (Rally Maderia and Barum Rally Zlin) and a fourteenth place (Rallye Sanremo) in the Peugeot 207 S2000 in 2007.

Meanwhile Abarth will face even more competition in Ypres as Proton will make its debut in the IRC on this round with Guy Wilks set to drive the Malaysian company's Satria Neo Super 2000. This means that for the first time in the history of the series, all seven IRC-registered manufacturers will be represented on one event. Although Wilks, from Great Britain, is a Belgium Ypres Rally novice, he has driven the Proton in competition before, leading the British championship Pirelli Rally in April, until he was forced out when a freak fire destroyed his car. His inclusion on the Belgium Ypres Rally entry list brings the total number of Super 2000 cars contesting the asphalt event to 20: another record for the IRC.