Intercontinental Rally Challenge leader Luca Rossetti targets his third win in a row to extend points lead on the Ypres Rally.

Luca Rossetti will be looking to extend his lead in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge this weekend as the series heads to Belgium for the third round of the year - the Ypres Rally.

The event will be the first one held on asphalt this season, although the Belgian rally is regarded as something of a specialised event due to the fact that many of the stages are run over farm tracks, which leaves the roads often littered with dirt, dung and gravel, putting traction and grip at a premium. The roads are frequently lined with drainage ditches, ensuring that no mistakes go unpunished - as Peugeot's Nicolas Vouilloz found out to his cost last year when he crashed out of the event.

The Ypres Rally is an event where home-grown drivers historically do well and both Freddy Loix and Patrick Snijers have won the event four times in the past. However, it is Peugeot Italy driver Rossetti who won the rally last year and his wins in Turkey and Portugal already this year mean he heads to Belgium as the man to beat in the standings.

"I've surprised myself with the very successful start we've had to the season, but although I am more experienced on asphalt than on gravel, Ypres is not at all a typical asphalt event," the current leader said. "We won last year through trying to be consistent and keeping out of trouble, so we will adopt the same tactic.

"The local drivers are going to be very strong, so I don't expect to win again although we'll be aiming to score some useful points."

The Ypres Rally will mark the first time this season that all five manufacturers registed in the IRC will have competed on the same event.

Abarth have the usual two Grande Puntos for Giandomenico Basso and Anton Alen, while the brand new R3 Diesel Punto will be defending Fiat's honours in the IRC 2WD Cup. The two-wheel drive category will have a new but experienced competitor in the form of Alessandro Bettega, who is embarking on a campaign with the Honda Civic R3 Type R.

Mitsubishi will be counting on local specialists Jasper Van der Heuvel and Paul Liater in Group N Lancers to fight for victory, while Volkswagen - which led in Belgium last year - makes its 2008 IRC debut at Ypres with an all-new line-up of local men Raphael Auquier and Bernd Casier.

Peugeot Belgium will have regular pairing Loix and Nicolas Vouilloz challenging for honours while Luca Betti and Snijers - who will pilot the BFGoodrich Drivers' Team Super 2000 207 - will also aid the Peugeot challenge.

"I tested my Peugeot 207 last week, and that was actually the first time that I had driven a Super 2000 machine," Snijers said. "It was really easy to find a good feeling with it, and we gradually adopted more aggressive set-ups. As for the actual event, it's just down to me to gather together more kilometres in the car - which I'll be doing at shakedown - and hopefully we can aim for a good result."