The
FIA, the governing body of the World Rally Championship, has confirmed the calendars that will be adopted in 2009 and 2010 following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on Friday in Monte Carlo.
As previously announced back in the summer, the schedule will be slashed to just twelve events per season from '09 - four less than has become the norm in recent years. In a bid to include new countries the WRC will also adopt a rotation system, with 24 different events taking place over the space of two years.
As part of this plan, it means the Rallye Monte Carlo will
not be apart of the WRC in 2009, although it will return in 2010.
Rally Ireland has thus been given the honour of opening the 2009 season, while it will conclude with the Wales Rally GB.
Cyprus has also been given a slot for '09 - even though this year's candidate event didn't run exactly smoothly, while Poland will run a WRC event for he very first time. Other new events include rallies in Russia, Bulgaria and Indonesia, although these latter three are all pencilled in for 2010.
The full line-ups are as follows:
2009 FIA World Rally Championship calendar
1 Feb
Ireland
15 Feb
Norway
15 Mar
Cyprus
5 Apr
Portugal
26 Apr
Argentina
24 May
Italy
14 Jun
Greece
28 Jun
Poland NEW
2 Aug
Finland
6 Sep
Australia
4 Oct
Spain
25 Oct
GB
2010 FIA World Rally Championship calendar
24 Jan
Monte Carlo
14 Feb
Sweden
7 Mar
Mexico
11 Apr
Jordan
25 Apr
Turkey
16 May
New Zealand
20 Jun
Indonesia NEW
18 Jul
Russia NEW
8 Aug
Bulgaria NEW
22 Aug
Germany
12 Sep
Japan
10 Oct
France
