Abarth will collaborate with KTM in order to develop a rival for Lotus Exige. It will be named Abarth KTM X-Bow and will make its market debut in 2013.

Abarth, the house tuner of the Italians at Fiat, prepares a partnership with KTM to crate a rival for Lotus Exige. The car will be named Abarth KTM X-Bow and is expected to hit the showrooms in 2013. Most likely, the new creation of the Italians would have a 1.8-liter MultiAir engine, of course, coming from Fiat, that will be able to develop up to 200 HP.

The new model will keep the monocoque structure of the current X-Bow, but the body will become a lot more friendlier. Abarth KTM X-Bow is wanted to be a street model and that’s why the Italians will mount a windshield, air conditioner and other options required for day-to-day driving. That’s the reason why the weight of the Italian model will increase, and its performances will drop compared with the current KTM X-Bow.

Exige’s rival will be built in a limited edition, will have two seats and a mid-mounted engine. The price the Italian tuner will ask for the new model was not yet announced, but the enthusiasts will have to pay around $72,000.

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This year’s edition of the Race of Champions was hosted by Beijing in the famous Bird’s Nest. Like every year the competition gathered the cream of the Motorsport drivers, retired or not. Names like Michael Schumacher (7 times F1 World Champion), Jenson Button (2009 Formula 1 World Champion), Marcus Gronholm (2-time FIA World Rally Champion), Yvan Muller (10 times Andros Trophy Ice Racing Champion and 2008 FIA World Touring Car Champion), Mick Doohan (5-time 500cc Grand Prix World Champion) and Travis Pastrana (10 times X Games Gold Medallist) stared in this hard fought competition.

The cars that featured in the RoC were all prototypes, with the exception of the Ford Focus WRC 09 (2-liter turbocharged 300 bhp engine). Two prototypes based on German’s Opel Astra (called Solution F Prototype with 310 bhp from a 3.5-litre V6 and with a weight of 2094 lbs) and a 200 bhp VW Scirocco were the only car-looking vehicles. The other cars were the KTM X-Bow (1714 lbs and 240 bhp), ROC Car, RX150 and ROC 2-Seater (the last three weighing under 1,100 lbs and having more than 150 bhp) all of them looking more like buggies.

Yesterday, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel teamed up and brought the Nations Cup in Germany, winning in front of the British team formed by Jenson Button and Andy Priaulx.

Today, the deployment of the Race of Champions brought the former finalist teammates face to face, in a direct race. In the 1/4 final, Jenson Button won the race against his fellow countryman Andy Prialux (holder of the RoC 2009  Fastest Lap ) after the 3-time FIA World Touring Car Champion had some problems launching the Focus WRC. The German war took place in the semi-finals, with Schumacher beating Vettel, after the Red Bull’s driver lost KTM X-Bow’s control in the first turn of the second lap and abandoned the race. In a interview after the race Vettel said that “X-Bow’s weight can fool you easily.”

Mattias Ekstrom drove flawless from the beginning of the RoC, beating the 8-times Le Mans 24 Hour winner, Tom Kristensen in the 1/4 finals, then David Coulthard. In the semi-finals Ekstrom and Coulthard raced with the Focus WRC and at the end of the race Mattias’ experience in the WRC helped him win the race.

In the Final of the Race of Champions Mattias Ekstrom won the battle in front of the 7 times F1 Champion after beating him twice racing with a ROC Car, then with the KTM X-Bow, making Markus Gronholm prediction come true. Now, Ekstrom won the Race of Champions for the 3rd time after he won the competition in 2006 and 2007. In 2007 he won the RoC in front of Michael Schumacher, so this year’s final looked like a rematch.

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