Zoom All set for the new IRC season

Former European Champion Renato Travaglia will compete on the Istanbul Rally in an Abarth Grande Punto run by the well-known Grifone team.

Travaglia is usually engaged on the Italian Championship with the Abarth factory team, but on this occasion he has a dispensation to compete with Grifone.

The Italian star – who featured on several IRC events last year – could compete on more events beyond Turkey if he finds the appropriate budget.

Frenchman Gilles Panizzi – the winner of seven World Championship rallies – will start his IRC campaign in Portugal this year. Panizzi had hoped to take the start of the Istanbul Rally with an Automeca-run Abarth Grande Punto, but he will now drive in Portugal instead.

Panizzi's only previous IRC outing has been on last year's Sanremo Rally, where he drove a Peugeot 207 S2000: the car that he helped to developed. However, he also has some Abarth experience from the past – as he drove a diesel Punto course car on the 2006 Sanremo event.

The Veszprem Rally in Hungary is the latest event to join the IRC Supporter Event programme. The rally, which is backed by tyre firm BFGoodrich, uses gravel stages that are also featured on the Central European Rally.

With a mix of fast roads and rougher military terrain, it provides a massive challenge for all competitors. Previous participants on the event have included some of the sport's top stars such as Gigi Galli and Jan Kopecky.

Source: IRC
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