Cyprus Rally kicks off with 14 special routes

The Cyprus Rally kicks off today with 14 special routes of an overall length of 332.07 kilometers.

After two years of participating in the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), this year the Cyprus Rally will again be part of the World Rally Championship (WRC), as Round 3 of the WRC Calendar.

For the first time, drivers will run on asphalt roads during today’s special routes.

Organisers hope that the combination between asphalt and land routes will be crowned with success and that other countries will follow Cyprus’ example.

The Cyprus Rally race part takes place from 13-15 March, with the participation of 35 teams and is organised by the Cyprus Automobile Association (CAA).

Regarding the starting order, in car number 1 will be defending World Rally Champion, 2009 Championship leader, and winner of the last three WRC Cyprus Rally events, Sebastien Loeb, in his Citroen Total World Rally Team C4.

He will be followed by Mikko Hirvonen in car number 3 – the Finnish driver of the Abu Dhabi World Rally Team currently sits second in the championship in his Ford Focus WRC. Third up will be Loeb’s Citroen teammate Daniel Sordo.

A group of Cypriot drivers will also be competing, including two past winners of the Cyprus Rally, Nicos Thomas and Charalambos Timotheou. Other local drivers who have confirmed their participation are Pantelis Pambouka, Yiotis Chartoupalos, Eraklis Velissariou and Aristofanis Avraam.

Today’s routes include six asphalt special routes, Panayia (30.33km), Milikouri (7.37km), Gerakies (29.40km) and back