Preview: Cyprus Rally.

The FIA World Rally Championship heads to the Mediterranean this weekend for the twelfth event of the 16-round series - the Cyprus Rally.

The event is based in the seaside tourist town of Limassol with stages run on rough gravel roads in the Troodos mountains in the centre of the island

The event runs from a single service park in the Lemesos Palais des Sports located to the north of downtown Limassol The rally will start on Thursday 21 September with a ceremonial start along the Limassol promenade, also the venue for a new Superspecial.

The rally comprises 331.34 competitive kilometres and 23 stages, five more than 2005 after the addition of the Superspecial and a new combination of speed tests used in previous years. The podium finish is scheduled for 1500hrs at the Limassol promenade on Sunday afternoon.

Special notes:

Taking place four months later than last year, at the end of the Cypriot summer, the Cyprus Rally is nevertheless still expected to retain its traditional hot, sunny weather, with temperatures expected to reach more than 30 degrees Celsius.

The combination of searing temperatures, tight mountain roads and a rocky, rutted surface has earned the rally the reputation of being the roughest event on the calendar. Reliability is even more crucial this year as the same chassis, engine and gearbox must also be used in the next event in Turkey.

The rally's twisty roads generate low average speeds; it's expected that crews will negotiate the route at an average speed of just over 60kph, barely half the speed recorded on smooth gravel events like Rally Finland or Rally New Zealand. With less air being forced into the car, airflow to the engine and transmission is substantially reduced and teams run cooling settings at their maximum to keep temperatures at a suitable level. Driving conditions for crews too can become very uncomfortable as temperatures in the cockpit soar.

FIA World Rally Championship news:

Sebastien Loeb further strengthened his lead in the 2006 FIA World Rally drivers' championship after taking his seventh win of the season in Japan three weeks ago. The Kronos Citroen driver saw his advantage increased from 31 points to 33, as his nearest rival, Marcus Gronholm, took the runners-up spot.

Daniel Sordo remains third, despite not scoring after being excluded in Japan, while Mikko Hirvonen stays fourth, but increases his tally to 33.

In the Manufacturers' series, Kronos Citroen saw their 15 point cushion reduced to 12 following BP Ford's 2-3 finish.

In other news between the events, the biggest announcement came from Citroen, who confirmed that Daniel Sordo will drive their second car in 2007, when they return to the series in an official capacity with the all-new C4. Sordo will team up with Sebastien Loeb, who returns to the 'factory' team.

"Since last year, a lot of my dreams have come true - this one is the most fantastic though," said Sordo, when asked about the announcement. "[Citroen team boss] Guy Frequelin has decided to trust me, just like some have done before him with the RACC, Carlos Sainz, my Spanish sponsors, Marc van Dalen and all the Kronos team. Now, I need to do my best and work even harder from the Cyprus Rally to deserve the trust of all those people. To be part of the best team with Sebastien is even better for me to learn and progress. What he achieved in Japan is incredible, isn't it?"

The organisers of the Rally Ireland meanwhile have announced that their event will have a super special stage, when it joins the WRC schedule next season. Rally Norway - which like Ireland is a new event for 2007, has also confirmed plans for their maiden event in the WRC, having released details of the full route, which will see the round encompass 18 tests - 344 competitive kilometres.

News from the Manufacturers' teams:

Manufacturer 1.

Kronos Total Citroen:

[Sebastien Loeb, car #1 and Daniel Sordo, car #2]

Sebastien Loeb could clinch his third world title in Cyprus on Sunday, providing the results fall his way. The Frenchman currently leads Marcus Gronholm, his nearest rival by 33 points, so if Seb concludes the event and extends his lead to 40 points or more, with only four more events to go after it, mathematically it will be impossible for the Finn to beat him. While it is a long shot, as Loeb will need to win or finish second, with Gronholm failing to score if Seb is second or only finishing sixth or below if Loeb wins, it is a possibility.

Furthermore while Loeb won the Cyprus Rally in 2005 and would dearly love to do the same this weekend, he will again have to start first on the road and will concede time on the first loop, sweeping away the loose gravel.

"I've never competed in Cyprus in September. Maybe, it will be a bit less hot? We can dream, can't we? In Cyprus, you need a very strong car. Shock absorbing is important for the traction and also to cope with the vertical demand on the chassis. It should not understeer at all in the slow corners and also should have a very good level of cooling. These past three years, the Xsara has done pretty well on the isle," he noted. "In 2003, our positions reflected our reliability and later we added the performance to it. The one-two finish last year with the Kronos Xsara of Manfred Stohl proved the ability of the Citroen on that terrain. We are going to try to benefit from it and fight for the win again."

Daniel Sordo meanwhile, who will be making his debut on the event, has again be entered in the second car and nominated to score manufacturers' points. He has said that he will be very unhappy if he doesn't pick up points for the Belgian-based squad come the conclusion of the event on Sunday.

"Once more we will have to be very focused during the recce. We need to find the right feeling, which dictates the 'natural' pace to choose. In Japan, I didn't manage to do that. That rally is really special. The recce was completed in difficult conditions and maybe that was why. I wasn't satisfied with my pace notes and unusually I corrected a lot of them over the first passage. The car was perfect but I couldn't find the confidence. In Cyprus, I hope I will be able to get the right feeling straight away," he stated.

"I will try to achieve a top six finish with a focus on the manufacturers' points. My job is to score some precious points for the team. I succeeded in Germany but had a blank score in the next two rounds. I will be very unhappy not to bring any to the team in Cyprus."

Kronos will also revert to a three-car line-up, with Xavier Pons back in action [see below].

BP Ford:

[Marcus Gronholm, car #3 and Mikko Hirvonen, car #4.]

Marcus Gronholm has said that he will have to rein himself in on the Cyprus Rally, as it is all too easy to over push and go off the road. Gronholm had to settle for second behind Sebastien Loeb on the last round in Japan earlier this month, however while he is well aware that the drivers' championship is all but lost - barring a miracle, BP Ford are more than in contention for the constructors' title, just 11 points adrift of Kronos Citroen.

Speaking prior to event, Gronholm added that developing a good rhythm is important in order to succeed in Cyprus and avoid the boulder-strewn tracks: "The stages are OK but there is always the feeling that you need to drive faster. But if you start to attack there are so few straight sections that it's easy to go off the road. If the speed gets too high, then you can brake late and slide off or end up smashing a wheel on the stones," he explained. "Patience is therefore crucial and developing a good rhythm so that you flow through the endless corners is the key."

Controlling the pace is not the only challenge in Cyprus however, and with temperatures expected to be hot, despite the fact it has switched from a May date to September, stamina and fitness levels will still be important, as will a regular intake of fluids to combat dehydration: "It's a hard rally physically because of the heat," continued the Finn. "There's not a lot of air coming into the car because the speeds are slow and by the end of a stage it's hard to breathe. Then you have to be out of the car quickly to change the tyres around for the next stage so there's no opportunity to catch your breath. And then it's straight into the next stage. So fitness is important."

Mikko Hirvonen meanwhile wrapped up the team's four-day development test in northern Spain last week. Hirvonen took over from Gronholm for days three and four and during the test the M-Sport squad concentrated on perfecting the cars set-up on gravel for the fly-away rallies in Australia and New Zealand later on in the season. Mikko though will now be focused on Cyprus and while it is a tough event, he is in a confident mood, buoyed by his recent form, which has seen him finish on the podium in four out of the last five events.

"Cyprus is slower than other rallies and the roads are incredibly rough," he noted. "It's different from other rounds and it isn't my favourite, but we need rallies like this in the championship. A world championship should have something of everything. To be successful the car must be strong and reliable and we proved in Greece that the Focus has those qualities. It will be hot and the speeds slow so it's important to be confident in the cooling package to ensure the car doesn't overheat."

Subaru World Rally Team:

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

Petter Solberg has said that the Banbury-based squad are close to finding a solution to the technical issues which have blighted them on recent events. Subaru conducted a six-day pre-event test in Sardinia last week in order to try and improve the competitiveness of the Impreza WRC and while Solberg isn't expecting miracles this weekend, he is impressed with how the team is continuing to push in order to try and turn things around.

Furthermore while 'Hollywood' has gone well in Cyprus in the past and won the event in 2003 en-route to the title, that must now seem like a long time ago, especially given his year to date. Indeed Petter knows that they must get the 'basics right' first if they are to stand any chance of fighting for the win.

"I like the Cyprus Rally a lot and it's normally a rally we perform well on; we won in 2003 and also led the last two years' events," said the Norwegian. "For 2006 however we've got to be realistic. Of course I want to win - we all want to win, me, the team, Pirelli, everyone - but we've got to get the basics right before we can seriously challenge for victory. The team is working very hard and we're getting closer to finding a solution to the problems we've experienced in recent rallies. Last week they've been in Sardinia for a six-day test and everyone at the factory is going flat-out too. We've got to keep pushing on."

Subaru's sporting director, Luis Moya is also optimistic that the work they did in Sardinia last week should aid their cause. He knows though that Cyprus is a demanding event: "To achieve a good result in Cyprus it's crucial to have good reliability and consistency as the rally is incredibly demanding on the cars, possibly the most demanding of the entire championship so far," he continued. "Historically it's claimed a number of retirements and, of course, the searing heat and dust can cause problems too. We hope we are well-prepared as a team; our drivers have trained especially for the temperatures and we've run a six-day test in Sardinia that should help us meet our performance targets in Cyprus as a team. We obviously hope to get a good result; both cars in the top six is a realistic prospect."

For Chris Atkinson meanwhile this will only be his second outing in Cyprus and while he had a difficult start to the event last season, he set a string of top-ten fastest stage times on days two and three to recover to finish tenth overall.

"Last year we didn't have such a good event as we had problems on the first day, but it was good to get experience of the stages on the final two legs. The rally is really hard work for drivers and co-drivers as the roads are very rough and the stages seem to last for ages as there are so many corners," he added. "To build up stamina for these longer runs, I step-up my fitness training to do longer runs and focus more on endurance training. I'd like to get a top five position this year."

Manufacturer 2.

OMV Peugeot Norway WRT:

[Manfred Stohl, car #7 and Henning Solberg, car #8].

Manfred Stohl will return to the scene of his first-ever podium result this weekend, when he takes in the Cyprus Rally. Stohl pulled off something off a shock result when he took the runners-up spot last year on the Mediterranean event, second only to event winner, Sebastien Loeb. Indeed the Austrian put a number of the 'works' drivers to shame and he will be eager to repeat that feat this Sunday.

Stohl has enjoyed a solid season to date with his Peugeot 307, scoring points in seven events in total, including taking third spot on the Rally Mexico at the start of the season. In spite of his confidence though he knows the path to a podium will be a rocky one, especially on this event, one of the toughest in the WRC.

"Our top result in Cyprus last year has us highly motivated. Still, one can't predict what will happen this year," he noted cautiously. "The course has been somewhat alleviated as compared to last year. Therefore there are no overlong special stages anymore, especially at the beginning of the rally. But my professed goal is and remains a place on the podium."

Stohl's OMV team-mate, Henning Solberg meanwhile is also upbeat, the Norwegian having also gone well in Cyprus in '05, when he finished fourth, his best result to date, and one he equalled recently in Finland: "I am not afraid to fight with anyone. Last year the competition was perhaps even stronger. A decisive factor will be to go easy on the tyres though as if you have a flat here you won't stand a chance for a top place," he warned.

Henning will be back in the second car now for all the remaining events of the season and as such, the OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team will be entitled to score manufacturers' points on each round - something that should allow them to add to their 50 point tally and further consolidate their fourth position in the constructors' championship, easily ahead of their Manufacturer 2 rivals, Stobart VK Ford and Red Bull Skoda.

Stobart VK Ford:

[Matthew Wilson, car #9 and Luis-Perez Companc, car #10]

The Stobart VK team will revert to the 2005 spec Focus in Cyprus. Matthew Wilson and Luis-Perez Companc got their hands on the 2006 model for the first earlier this month, when they competed on the Rally Japan. However both will have to make do with the older car on the Mediterranean island, which according to Matt is still 'bloody good'.

"It's my first time in Cyprus but from what everyone says, it will be a tough rally," said Wilson Jr, prior to the event. "Obviously the slow speeds on the stages means that less air is flowing in the cock-pit and the temperatures are already pretty high. Also we are going back to the 2005 car, which is still bloody good, but the 2006 was something really special."

Companc is not looking forward to having to go back to the older spec Focus. Furthermore while he has competed in Cyprus before he hasn't had much luck there: "Cyprus is a very rough rally and it's going to be tough in the older car as that is more nervous than the new one. I have driven in Cyprus before and in 2002 I was leading Group N before going off on the Sunday. I also did it in 2004 in a WRC car, but retired then too," he added.

The Stobart squad meanwhile will also enter a third car, with Juan Pablo Raies joining Wilson Jr. and Companc. This will be the third time this year Stobart have opted to run three-cars on an event - the other two being Sweden and Sardinia. The Stobart VK team also plan to enter three-cars on the next event in Turkey and they will have a 'mass of cars' for the final round in the WRC, the Wales Rally GB, in part because it is also the final round of the MSA British Rally Championship.

Red Bull Skoda:

[Harri Rovanpera, car #11 and Andreas Aigner, car #12]

Red Bull Skoda team boss, Armin Schwarz has predicted that they could get a highly 'gratifying result' on the Cyprus Rally. Red Bull Skoda did well on their last event at the start of August, when Andreas Aigner and Mattias Ekstrom finished sixth and eleventh overall on the Rallye Deutschland, something that gave the Austrian-based squad their best points haul of the season and increased their tally in the manufacturer'' championship to 22 points The team were busy conducting a three-day test recently in Austria in a bid to maintain that momentum. Furthermore, while Schwarz is aware Cyprus is an extremely rough and demanding event, he remains optimistic that Aigner and Harri Rovanpera can shine in their Fabia WRC cars.

"If we don't run into serious trouble, it may well be possible to repeat our gratifying result from Germany," said Schwarz. "Still Cyprus remains a mere lottery. The road conditions are very, very bad - although we addressed these conditions while testing in Austria. We hope that Harri has enough confidence now which is necessary to choose the right pace for getting a points finish. If Andreas runs at the same pace as the year before in a Group N car, then for him a positive outcome is possible as well."

Rovanpera was impressed with the work done on the Fabia during their recent test and although he is cautious, he is definitely happier with the car: "It'll be very difficult in Cyprus. I hope that we'll have no technical issues and not too many tyre failures because of the rough roads. The handling of the Fabia has improved substantially compared to my last gravel rally in Greece though, the team has worked hard for that."

Aigner meanwhile is eager to put the knowledge he gained in Cyprus last year to good use, when he finished sixth in the Group N class and 18th overall: "I'll try not to attack immediately. It's important to choose a constant pace on the island for the entire rally. With this formula it should be possible to pull through somehow in spite of the ferocious roads. I know most of the route - just two or three stages will be new to me," he added.

This will be Red Bull Skoda's eighth outing of the season, with two more to go in Turkey and on Wales Rally GB.

Production Car WRC:

In the Production Car WRC, ten drivers' will be eligible to score points, including current championship leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah, who missed the last round in Japan as it was not one of his six nominated events.

Toshi Arai also returns to action in the PCWRC, while Fumio Nutahara is one of the other notable names, now second in the PCWRC standings following his win in Japan, doubling his tally to 20 points, 14 off Al-Attiyah.

"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.

17 of those entrants will be in WRC cars and in addition to the 'usual names' entered by the manufacturer 1 and manufacturer 2 squads, Toni Gardemeister will compete in an Astra-run Citroen Xsara WRC, in what looks set to be his final outing of the season.

Xavier Pons will also be in action in a Xsara, having had to miss the event in Japan at the start of this month following his crash in Finland. Pons is eager to get to the finish and re-build his confidence: "[Since my last event in the WRC] I have spent some time on holiday with my friends. I also focused on the physical preparation with my trainer," said the Spaniard.

"Unfortunately, considering the frequency of the events this month it hasn't been possible for the team to organise some tests with the Xsara WRC. So I think I will take maximum profit of the shakedown. My target is of course to finish the rally but on top of everything to get back in the right feeling and speed I had at the start of the season. I have a complete confidence in the Citroen's reliability and I know I can count on the usual faultless job of the Kronos team. My co-driver Carlos [del Barrio] and I are as motivated as ever to achieve a good result."

Kronos won't be the only team running three cars, as the Stobart VK squad has also opted to enter a third car - namely for Juan Pablo Raies. Raies, who will be competing in Cyprus for the very first time, has only one aim, to ensure he takes in all 1200 kilometres of the event and gets his car to the finish ramp in Lemesos: "It is going to be my first time at Rally Cyprus and all I can say is what I have been told by other Argentine drivers who have done the event. They all say it is a very rough rally, twisty roads and very hot. The aim that I have is to finish the event so that way I can start to achieve some experience for next season where I will drive this same car in the South American Rally Championship," he explained.

Britain's Gareth-Glynn Jones will also take part in a Subaru Impreza, while Francois Duval, who was included on the entry list, will not compete having lost backing from sponsor Kizz-me. It is thought he may be back out in action in Turkey and Britain, but this has still to be confirmed.

Schedule:

The rally is centred around the Palais des Sports service park on the northern edge of Lemesos. Most of the action is based in the Troodos Mountains north of the city although the major innovation is a short asphalt stage through Lemesos old town on Sunday afternoon to end the rally. After a ceremonial start on the seafront on Thursday evening, each of the three legs comprises a morning loop of stages repeated during the afternoon. Much of Friday's opening leg is based in the very north of the Troodos, close to the border with the Turkish part of the island. The stages show several changes to the 2005 edition. The middle leg 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 Lemesos in the hilly and forested Machairas area. Drivers tackle 23 stages covering 331.34km in a route of 1172.74km.

Hot tip:

Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb are the 'men of the moment' and the two most likely to taste the victory champagne on Sunday. Loeb may be compromised somewhat by running first on the road on day one, but it didn't stop him from winning in Japan - he will start as favourite.

Last year:

Sebastien Loeb won the event in 2005, an utterly dominant 4 minutes up on Manfred Stohl, who was second in his privately entered Xsara. Markko Martin rounded out the podium, ahead of Henning Solberg and Toni Gardemeister. A number of works drivers' had problems, including Petter Solberg, Marcus Gronholm and Francois Duval, all of whom retired. Harri Rovanpera, Chris Atkinson and Armin Schwarz also ran into difficulties, but finished under the SupeRally, in 7th, 10th and 13th respectively.