Francois Duval has announced that he will compete on the Rallye de France-Tour de Corse in October, the thirteenth round in the 2008
FIA World Rally Championship.
The Belgian, who has only done one event in the WRC so far this season, when he made a 'guest' appearance for the
Stobart Ford team on the Rallye Monte Carlo, finishing in fourth overall, is also believed to have secured a drive for the Rallye de Espana the week before too.
"It is good news [that I am going to compete in France]," Duval told his personal website. "It is a rally which I like. I will be there and in the groove too, since I will have disputed the Catalonia event a few days prior to it.
"I want to thank Steven Vergalle as without him this participation would not have been possible."
What car the ex-
Citroen and ex-Ford man will use is not yet known and while it has been reported that it will again be with the Stobart squad, a spokesperson for the Ford 'B' team told
Crash.net that nothing has yet been agreed.
"I believe Francois is working on a deal to compete on a few more WRC rounds this year," said a representative for the M-Sport operation. "If he gets this sorted then it would be good to see him back in the Stobart team after doing such a good job in Monte Carlo."
Duval's immediate focus meanwhile is on the Rally Portugal, the second round in the 2008 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, which runs from May 9-10, where he will compete in an Abarth Grande Punto S2000.
"I am really impatient to get started," Francois added. "The last rally I did was in Monte Carlo and I miss it. I could see in Turkey [the opening round of the IRC] that the performances between the drivers are very tight. The Fiats and Peugeots seem equal in pure performance.
"Like in Turkey though, it will be necessary to pay attention to punctures because that could be an issue."
Duval also noted that he has withdrawn his application to compete on the Ypres Westhoek Rally at the end of June - the third round in the IRC and his home event - as part of the Kronos Racing-run 'BFGoodrich Drivers Team'.
