For Kimi Raikkonen the Rally della Marca will be a totally different challenge to last weekend when the Finn raced his Ferrari F60 to its first podium of the year in the glamorous Monaco Grand Prix. The Finnish F1 star made his rally debut on the Arctic Lapland Rally in late January where he turned in a composed and consistent performance in his first-ever rally which saw him finish in 13th position overall and the first Super 2000 car home, having had very little testing experience before the event. Marco Signor and Maurizio Barone will start at #9 this weekend in the Sama Racing entry. The pair have turned in some very promising performances in the Italian Rally Championship so far this year, with a sixth place finish on the Rally 1000 Miglia (above) after running in the top-3 for much of the event and a solid 10th place on the Rally Targa Florio earlier this month

Ferrari F1 star Kimi Raikkonen will be back behind the wheel of his potent Grande Punto Abarth S2000 this weekend, but unlike his first two rallies earlier this year he will swap the freezing snow and ice of Finland for the smooth, fast asphalt of the 26th Rally della Marco in Italy. With Kaj Linstrom in the co-driver's seat once again, the 2007 F1 World Champion will be taking on a whole new challenge - his first asphalt rally - as he squeezes his third rally of the year into his hectic programme with Scuderia Ferrari.

It will also be a totally different challenge to last weekend when the Finn raced his Ferrari F60 to its first podium of the year in the glamorous Monaco Grand Prix. Now he will face the thousands of fanatical rally fans in the Treviso region of Italy who will cheer the Scuderia' driver on his way as he gets to grips with another tough rallying scenario. "I'll race in a rally in Italy next Saturday, in the Marca Trevigiana, and I want to thank the Scuderia that they gave me the possibility to take part in such a competition," said Kimi Raikkonen yesterday as he looked forward to the new challenge. "I really enjoy myself and it will be my first experience on the tarmac after some tests on snow last winter. As I'm coming from the race track it will be interesting to see what I will be able to do behind the wheel of the Fiat Grande Punto S2000 on the roads close to Treviso."

The Finn made his rally debut on the Arctic Lapland Rally in late January, turning up at the wheel of a Grand Punto Abarth that he had bought with his brother, who is an established rally driver in Finland. For Raikkonen, who was seated alongside the experienced Lindström, it was a composed and consistent performance in his first-ever rally which saw him finish in 13th position overall and the first Super 2000 car home, all after having very little testing experience before the event. He made no mistakes over the twelve stages of the snow covered event, and progressively improved his position over the two days. Completing the first stage in 16th position, Raikkonen ended the first day in the same position, having set fourth-fastest time on the short final stage of the day. He continued to make solid progress throughout leg 2, steadily climbing the leaderboard, including another fourth position on the ninth stage.

Raikkonen tackled his second rally in February, the SM Vaakuna Ralli, which again took place in the thick snow and ice of Finland, and once more he proved to be adept at the sport, learning very fast, and never posting a time outside the top-10 in his Grande Punto Abarth before his pace was dramatically slowed when he slipped into a ditch on the penultimate stage. Loosing a massive chunk of time as the enthusiastic spectators dragged the car out, the Finn was eventually classified a very respectable 23rd overall out of the 43 finishers.

Now comes his third rally, and the 26th Rally della Marca will pose another stern test. Raikkonen will start #15 out of the 113 entries for this ever-popular regional rally, and will be one of five Grande Punto Abarths on the entry list. Also expected to impress will be Marco Signor and Maurizio Barone who start at #9 in the Sama Racing entry. The pair have turned in some very promising performances in the Italian Rally Championship (CIR) so far this year, with a sixth place finish on the Rally 1000 Miglia after running in the top-3 for much of the event and a very solid 10th place on the Rally Targa Florio earlier this month, and they should feature on the leaderboard. Another crew that should shine in the rapid Italian Super 2000 machine will be Alessio Pisi and Fulvio Florean, they are seeded at #14. Marco Bernadelli/Debora Milanesi at #19 will drive a car entered by the highly experienced Trico Motor Sport team, while the final Grand Punto Abarth in the rally will be crewed by Michele Tagliani/Benedetta Pericotti, they start at #20.

In the overall battle for honours the Grande Punto Abarth runners will face the much more powerful World Rally Championship (WRC) cars which are valid to contest this low-category event. Six WRC machines feature on the entry list: the Peugeot 206 WRC is the most numerous, with four entries, while the list of these muscular cars is completed by a single example of the Ford Focus WRC and a Citroën Xsara WRC. In the Super 2000 class the five Grand Punto Abarths will face a big challenge from the three Peugeot 207 S2000s, the fastest of which is expected to be Fabio Gianfico/Roberto Tolino in a Rubicon Corse-entered example. Also of note to the Italian automobile enthusiasts is the penultimate entry on the long list: seeded right down at #113, Luigi Battistel and Mirko Tassaro will be turning back the clock of time as they do battle in the iconic Fiat Uno Turbo, these days homologated in the FN3 class for rallying in Italy.

Nine asphalt stages will comprise the 26th edition of the popular Rally della Marca which takes place on May 30. The longest test - "Monte Cessen" at 17.66 km will be run 3 times, while shortest stage - "Monte Grappa" at 11.79 km will also see two tours. The other four stages will comprise of "Monte Tomba" at 12.08 km, and "Castelli" at 11.79 km, both will be run twice. This adds up to 124 km of timed tests and 304.34 km of transfer to make up a total rally distance of 428.34 km.