The first full day of the Rally of Turkey saw up-and-coming Finn Anton Alen take the rally lead for Abarth on his debut with the Grande Punto. The 23 year-old moved ahead when Peugeot 207 driver Nicolas Vouilloz had a left-front puncture just five kilometres from the end of SS6 this morning.

 Vouilloz’s team mate Enrique Garcia Ojeda was first after the opening spectator superspecial stage on Thursday night, but he was passed by Vouilloz and Alen on SS3. Vouilloz held off Alen until the puncture on SS6, which cost the Frenchman 50 seconds and dropped him down to fifth.

Alen took over the lead from Ojeda, who was making his rally debut in a four-wheel drive car. The Spaniard’s only problem was a 10-second penalty that he picked up for leaving the second service a minute late, after the Peugeot mechanics detected a water leak. Local driver Volkan Isik was third in another Grande Punto, but by the end of the day Vouilloz had fought his way back to fourth thanks to a string of fastest stage times.

Abarth’s Andrea Navarra struggled all day through being first on the road and sweeping it clean for everyone else, but the problem went away during the repeated stages in the afternoon and the Italian was able to climb to fifth overall, just ahead of former European Champion Renato Travaglia: the top Group N car in his Mitsubishi Lancer. The all-new Honda Civics had a successful and reliable day, although Luca Betti lost three minutes with a puncture on SS6. Citroen driver Simon Jean-Joseph struggled with his set-up in the morning, finding his C2 too stiff, but after some changes at service, his pace improved in the afternoon.

Peugeot driver Nicolas Vouilloz has won the Rally of Turkey, after taking the lead of the all-gravel event on the final afternoon. The former mountain bike champion got past the Abarth of Anton Alen on SS16, which lost time this afternoon with a broken brake pipe and then a puncture. The Finn eventually ended up fourth on his debut for Abarth.

Vouilloz closed to within less than a second of Alen’s lead before the service halt halfway through the day, after setting an impressive series of fastest stage times following a puncture on the opening day that cost him nearly a minute. In second place was the Abarth of Andrea Navarra, the winner of the opening round of the IRC in Africa.

The Italian lost time on Saturday morning by running first on the road, but he gradually increased his pace to end the rally in style – consolidating his IRC drivers’ title lead and Abarth’s lead of the manufacturers’ classification. Enrique Garcia Ojeda was third in the other Peugeot, on his very first event on gravel in a four-wheel drive car.

There was drama for Turkish driver Volkan Isik on the final afternoon, when he was slowed by an alternator problem and then took a wheel off on the final stage. With a road penalty he was classified sixth after the final stage, behind Alen and former European Champion Renato Travaglia – whose Mitsubishi was the top Group N car in fifth overall. Taking the final point, for eighth place, was Citroen’s Simon Jean-Joseph on his IRC debut.