The FIA World Rally Championship returns to the Mediterranean this weekend and following the Cyprus Rally now heads to Turkey, for the thirteenth event in the 16-round series.

Making its fourth appearance on the schedule, this year's rally will be based once again in the town of Kemer, 40 kilometres south of the holiday resort of Antalya. The event will begin with a colourful ceremonial start in Antalya's Cumhuriyet Square on Thursday evening with the proper rallying taking place over the following three days.

The rally comprises 19 special stages and a total competitive distance of 351.01 kilometres. Friday's first Leg is the longest of the rally, with 152 stage kilometres, including a night-time Superspecial in the grounds of Akdeniz University. Leg two brings seven more mountain stages and another visit to the Superspecial, while Sunday's three stages make it the shortest Leg of the rally. The winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp in Kemer at 1306hrs on Sunday.


Special notes:

The event's harsh terrain should have a familiar feel. Run high in the Anatolian mountains, over a variety of broken gravel roads, the stages are broadly similar to those used on the preceding event in Cyprus.

However, there are some important differences. Firstly, the speeds in Turkey are nowhere near as slow as in Cyprus. Secondly the stages are more varied, with several water-splashes and a range of interesting corners making them a spectator's favourite.

Turkey has also had its date on the calendar altered for 2006, meaning that conditions should be significantly different to last year's. Its new slot, four months later and right at the end of the summer, makes rain a distinct possibility, as well as fog over some of the mountain tracks.


FIA World Rally Championship news:

Sebastien Loeb further strengthened his lead in the 2006 FIA World Rally drivers' championship after taking his eighth win of the season in Cyprus three weeks ago. The Kronos Citroen driver increased his advantage over Marcus Gronholm, who took second, from 33 points to 35, with just four events left to go.

However disaster struck the Frenchman just days after that win, when he broke his right arm while training for Turkey. As a result he will miss this event and while he still looks odds on to take the drivers' title, when he will return to action is currently unknown. Most suspect though that he won't be back until the Rally New Zealand, something that will give him over 7 weeks to recover. If that does prove to be the case he will miss the Rally Australia as well.

Loeb's injury is however, a big blow for Kronos-Citroen - especially as they saw their 12-point cushion in the manufacturers' reduced to just 7 points following BP-Ford's 2-3 finish on the 'Island of Aphrodite'.