Preview: Cyprus Rally.

The 33rd Cyprus Rally takes place this coming weekend - the sixth round out of sixteen in the 2005 FIA World Rally Championship.

Cyprus will also play host to the third round in the 2005 FIA Production Car WRC.

Beginning on Thursday 12 May with a ceremonial start in the host town of Limassol, the gruelling three-day event will be the first of a trio of Mediterranean hot, gravel rallies scheduled for May and June.

Special notes:

As the slowest, hottest and roughest event of the year, the Cyprus Rally is an endurance test for cars, tyres and drivers alike.

Based largely on rock-strewn tracks high in the Troodos Mountains, the event's stages are among the narrowest and twistiest in the championship. Rocky hairpin bends, thick dust and rutted roads combine to make driving conditions difficult, while scorching temperatures of more than 30?C test drivers' stamina and physical fitness.

The twisty conditions mean cars are expected to record average speeds of just 66kph, barely half those recorded on smooth gravel events like Rally Finland. Low speeds mean reduced airflow to cool the engine and transmission, while suspension and tyres will take a hammering on the rocky roads.

This year the event will run from a single service park located to the north of Limassol.

The rally will begin on Friday when crews travel 55km to the start of the longest test of the event, the 38.32kms stage from Lagoudera. The rally route is unchanged from 2004 and each of the three legs comprises six stages - a group of three repeated - and a total competitive distance of 326.68 kilometres.

The winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp in Limassol at 1517hrs on Sunday May 15.

FIA World Rally Championship news:

Sebastien Loeb leads the World Rally drivers' championship following his win in Sardinia. The Frenchman is one point ahead of Petter Solberg and 7 points up on Markko Martin, who lies third.

In the constructors' championship meanwhile, Peugeot lead, 11 points up on Citroen.

News from the Manufacturers' teams:

Citroen Total:

[Sebastien Loeb, car #1 and Francois Duval, car #2]

Citroen have now dominated the last two events thanks to Sebastien Loeb - taking back-to-back wins in NZ and Sardinia. As such they are probably the favourites again this weekend, although the Frenchman will be somewhat disadvantaged on Friday, as he will have to run first on the road.

"In Cyprus, being first on the road isn't easy," said Loeb. "It can even be a big handicap on Friday's opening loop. The stages are the same as 2004 and I hope they don't cut up too much. Last year we had the impression that they were just as we had left them after two runs in 2003! As I have said before though, the fact that I will serve as 'road sweeper' on the Friday is because I am leading the championship. For that reason, I would be happy to start every event first on the road!"

Francois Duval meanwhile is still somewhat struggling and the Belgian was less than happy in Sardinia after throwing away a podium place.

"In Sardinia, I made a costly mistake when I turned in a little late on a crest and stupidly lost points," he reflected. "I have got to stay on the road and finish [this weekend]. Given how competitive our car is at the moment, I should be able to keep up with the top three. And with a little luck, I could finish on the podium."

Ford Motor Company:

[Toni Gardemeister, car #3 and Roman Kresta, car #4.]

Ford aims to create history on the Cyprus Rally by extending their remarkable points scoring record in the FIA World Rally Championship to 50 consecutive events.

Since the championship was officially launched in 1973, there have been 410 world rallies and no other manufacturer has composed a run of successive points' scores that exceeds 35 events.

The record-breaking sequence began on the Monte Carlo Rally in 2002.

Ford drivers Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta carried the run to 49 when both scored points in Italy earlier this month and the pressure will be on them this weekend to take it to 50.

555 Subaru World Rally Team:

[Petter Solberg, car #5 and Chris Atkinson, car #6.]

Subaru will take two cars to Cyprus - with Petter Solberg again joined by Chris Atkinson. Both will drive the latest evolution of the Subaru Impreza, the WRC2005.

This will be the fourth time Solberg has contested the event. As a driver who relishes technical and twisty gravel stages, the Norwegian is hoping for a repeat of the form that helped him win the event by more than four minutes in 2003.

"I'm going to go to Cyprus with a different approach; of course we're going to try to win, but we know how difficult it is to do that these days," said Solberg. "I'm going to start calm, see where the level is and then go for maximum attack on Saturday.

"From what I've heard, I think the rally is going to be very rough this year, it depends on how much they've worked on the roads. It's always a hard rally, very rough and bumpy with lots of loose rocks, but it's a rally that I like. We completed a tyre test last week, there was some improvement, but we'll have to wait and see how it works on the rally. You never know properly before you are fighting against the other guys."

Atkinson meanwhile has not contested the event before. The Subaru rookie will be aiming to gain experience of the rally's difficult stages, while demonstrating a good pace in his Impreza.

Marlboro Peugeot Total:

[Marcus Gronholm, car #7 and Markko Martin, car #8].

Peugeot, who won the Cyprus Rally in 2002 and will be out to consolidate their lead in the Manufacturers' points table this time, while the 307 WRC drivers Marcus Gronholm and Markko Martin will be looking to hit the ground running.

Gronholm has finished this event on one occasion when he won it outright in 2002. He did however win the event last year - but was later excluded for a technical infringement. The two-time world champion prefers high-speed rallies such as New Zealand and Finland, but he has shown that he understands the secret of being quick in Cyprus.

Martin meanwhile is another driver who prefers fast, flowing corners to rough, twisty going. However, his second place in Limassol in 2004 showed that he too has the ability to adapt to all types of terrain. The patience and consistency that have been his strong points since the beginning of the season promise once again to be valuable assets in the three events to come.

Mitsubishi Motor Sports:

[Harri Rovanpera, car #9 and Gilles Panizzi, car #10]

Gilles Panizzi returns to the Mitsubishi line-up this weekend, alongside team leader, Harri Rovanpera. Mitsubishi president, Isao Torii is hopeful they can get a podium after showing good pace in Sardinia.

"Cyprus is a rally of survival," he noted. "We saw from Sardinia that we have made a lot of progress with the car and I feel very satisfied with the way our drivers are developing the more they gain confidence. We need to eliminate some small technical problems, but I think if we can survive the heat and rocks of Cyrus, then a podium is possible."

Skoda Motorsport:

[Armin Schwarz, car #11 and Janne Tuohino, car #12]

Skoda conducted an 'extra test' following the event in Sardinia two weeks ago - in order to ensure they are as competitive as possible this weekend.

"We saw on the first day in Sardinia that rough and technical gravel events suit our car quite well at the moment," said team boss, Martin Muehlmeier.

"I will [therefore] be hoping that Armin and Janne can continue to get that performance from the car on all three days in Cyprus which is a similar event. We have made another test in the Czech Republic since Sardinia and we hope to see the benefit of this extra work once the rally starts."

This incidentally is the first event in Cyprus for the Fabia WRC. Last year, the team opted to miss the event; the year before was the team's final appearance with the Octavia WRC.

Production Car WRC:

All 18 of the Production Car World Rally Championship crews are expected to compete in Cyprus.

Amongst the front runners will undoubtedly be Toshi Arai, who currently leads the championship, along with Xavier Pons, Karamjit Singh and Gabriel Pozzo. Britain will be represented in the class by Mark Higgins and Natalie Barratt.

There are though some uncertainties about the plans for Austrian all-round driver Thomas Bleiner, who originally planned to make this rally his first appearance in the series. Also, former champion Singh has yet to announce details of his commercial backers for this year's series.

Since the previous PCWRC round in New Zealand, Arai contested the Asia-Pacific [APRC] opening round at Canberra, Australia. Provisionally, he finished first in the APRC category, but after the event he was excluded for technical reasons, leaving the Finn Jussi Valimaki to take maximum APRC points' on his debut appearance in the series.

Other significant entries:

62 crews have entered the Cyprus Rally in total.

Amongst the other significant runners are: Henning Solberg (Ford Focus), Antony Warmbold (Ford Focus), Manfred Stohl (Citroen Xsara), Daniel Carlsson (Peugeot 206) and Balazs Benik (Ford Focus).

Suzuki meanwhile continue there 'world tour' with the Ignis Super 1600 - junior runners, Per-Gunnar Andersson and Guy Wilks in action.

Schedule:

The special stages are identical to 2004, with much of the competitive distance based in the Troodos Mountains, north of the rally base in Limassol. All the action is centred around a new service park at the Palais des Sports on the northern edge of the city.

After a ceremonial start in Limassol at 20.30 on Thursday, each of the three legs comprises two identical loops of three stages.

The opening leg is the longest, covering a compact route in the very north of the Troodos, close to the Turkish border.

The middle day is based further south, close to Mt Olympus and west towards the resort of Paphos.

The final leg is the shortest, covering tests north-east of Limassol in the hilly and forested Machairas area.

Drivers face 326.68km in a route of 1063.92km.

Hot tip:

Marcus Gronholm to avenge 2004 disqualification and take the win.

Last year:

Sebastien Loeb won the event last year - after Marcus Gronholm was excluded along with his then Peugeot team-mate, Harri Rovanpera for a technical irregularity. Markko Martin and Carlos Sainz thus took second and third, with Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen rounding out the top five. There was only three 'works' retirements - namely Francois Duval, Kristian Sohlberg and Gilles Panizzi.