Civic Type R R3 to return in hands of Alessandro Bettega from Ypres.

The new Honda Civic Type R R3 will take part in the remainder of the 2008 Intercontinental Rally Challenge following an agreement between well-known Italian team Procar and JAS Motorsport.

The Civic Type R R3 competed on all the European rounds of the IRC last year, with an best result of fifth overall on the Rallye du Valais in Switzerland, and returns to

the new class for production-based two-wheel drive cars with two-litre engines. The machine has been designed to a blueprint for rallying's future set out by the sport's governing body, the FIA.

Alessandro Bettega will drive the Mugen-engined Civic for the remainder of the season, beginning on the Rally of Ypres over 27-28 June, and will bring to bear his experience with various different rally cars.

"We are really happy to see the new Honda Civic challenging for the two-wheel drive title on the IRC this year," JAS Motorsport team principal Alessandro Mariani commented, "Procar and Alessandro are sure to represent an excellent combination for finalising all the development work we have completed so far."

Procar also brings plenty of international experience to the project, having run cars on the WRC, IRC and Italian championships in seasons past, but will benefit from technical support from JAS throughout the 2008 campaign. After Ypres, the combination will compete on five further IRC rounds and Procar team principal Daniele Pelliccioni is confident that it can be a frontrunner in its class.

"Having seen how competitive the car was last year, we are all very excited about this new challenge," he concluded, "It's the first time that we have worked with Honda and this category of car, but we are all hopeful of our prospects as we have plenty of experience in rallying along with a very quick driver and an exciting new car. I am convinced that we can put all these elements together to achieve some good results this year."