Abarth factory team driver Anton Alén insists he can still be a contender for this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge title despite the Finnish youngster failing to score on the opening two rounds of the series in Monte Carlo (top) and Brazil (bottom).

The Abarth factory team's pilot Anton Alén insists he can still be a contender for this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge title despite the Finnish youngster failing to score any drivers' championship points on the opening two rounds of the series in Monte Carlo and Brazil.

Alén's highly frustrating start to the new season continued in Brazil a fortnight ago when he rolled on the Rally de Curitiba, having earlier in the rally been delayed for seven minutes after damaging his Grande Punto Abarth S2000's suspension in a separate incident.

The crash marked the Finn’s second retirement in as many events as his clutch failed on the road section back to the podium in Monaco in January's Monte Carlo Rally. Alén was forced into a last-minute retirement from sixth place, with the finish line tantalisingly close. However he had shown himself capable of setting top stage times throughout the rally, although his 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 Finnish driver had done a fantastic job to show all his natural speed and had been set for a points-scoring finish on his first Monte Carlo Rally.

Alén, who is the son of rallying legend Markku is convinced though that he can fight back from these two poor results. "Before the problems in Brazil I had a good feeling with the car and things were going well," he commented. "Yes it’s disappointing that we didn’t finish but I am happy with the speed that I had.”

Alen’s next event is the Azores Rally on May 7-9. "I will have a good road position for that event, similar to Juho Hanninen in the factory Skoda who I am sure will be very strong on gravel," Alén said. "That will help and also the fact my co-driver Timo Alanne has competed on the event before."