"I think after the success on Rally Japan and my four wins in a row in the Japanese Rally Championship, I can challenge for victory in Cyprus under the perfect conditions for myself, the Yokohama tyre and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution," said Nutahara. "I really want to win the PCWRC title, which is why I am missing a round of the Japanese series which runs at the same time as Cyprus this week. Having said that, I am still leading my home championship - it would be nice to win them both."
In addition Aaron Burkart, who is competing in the Junior WRC, will swap his C2 S1600 for a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer. Burkart is supported by OMV and as such he will therefore represent the OMV CEE World Rally Team. Burkart is aware though that he will face a steep learning curve and as such his aim is to get to the finish without having to re-start under the SupeRally: "I think that switching from my
Citroen Super 1600 to the Mitsubihi Lancer Evo 9 will be anything but easy," he conceded. "First you have to adapt to the earlier braking points. After all, the car is much heavier. On the other hand the tempo in turns is much higher since you drive with more speed. In any case, it can only help me in developing my skills. It would be great if we could manage to finish without having to draw on the SupeRally regulation. If so, one or more WRC points should be possible. And this is, in the end, our big goal."
At the Errani Team Group meanwhile Simone Campedelli will replace regular driver Stefano Marrini in their Lancer Evolution, while Britain’s Nigel Heath will be out, along with Aki Teiskonen and Khalid Al-Qassimi.
Local drivers, Andreas Tsouloftas and Spyros Pavlides are both entered by the organisers as 'guest' drivers in the PCWRC field and as such will be able to take points off the regulars in the Production class. This is not one of the best-supported rounds of the PCWRC though, with front-runninng Mitsubishi men from the Tango Rally Team: Marcos Ligato, Gabriel Pozzo and Sebastian Beltran all missing the rally - along with San Marino’s Mirco Baldacci.
Other significant entries:
Around 50 crews will take part in the Cyprus Rally, a similar amount to that which competed on the season opening Rallye Monte Carlo and in Mexico.
