Another year of Citroen and Ford's joint monopoly of the world rally championship is assured when the season starts at Rally Ireland at the end of January. The 2009 season beckons with a confusion of emotions created by the inter-season withdrawal of Subaru and Suzuki, the end of Japanese official involvement in the world championship. There is also unfinished business regarding the forward planning of the sport, global economic gloom and unanswered questions, but continued rivalry between the French and British based teams guarantees success.

Both Citroen and Ford start the season with cars in the same specification as they left off in 2008, with Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb having every chance achieving of his fiftieth world rally win and the possibility of a sixth successive world title. His teammate Dani Sordo has his own challenge, finally to win a world rally after ten times finishing second! Ford's number one driver Mikko Hirvonen goes into the season with the confidence of having a year as team leader already behind him while his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, already the youngest driver ever to score a world rally win, and is already proven to be the quickest Ford driver.

So far four teams have been registered for the world series, the two official Citroen and Ford teams, the new auxiliary Citroen Junior team and once again the back-up Stobart VK M-Sport team of Fords. After enjoying a sport with four different manufacturers vying against each other in 2008 we now have only two, but another auxiliary team from Ford (the return of the Munchi's team) is expected to be announced. FIA rules allow auxiliary teams the chance only to contest eight of the 12 rounds of the series, with the final registration deadline being the closing date for entries for the fifth round, 19th March.

The withdrawal of the two Japanese teams was long-time feared but very suddenly announced, leaving their drivers Petter Solberg, Chris Atkinson, Toni Gardemeister and PG Andersson with in time to make serious alternative career plans. It is too early to know which of the drivers regularly seen in 2008 will disappear from world class rallying, but already new names are being mentioned at the top level. At Citroen, the 2008 Junior champion Sebastien Ogier has been promised entries with a C4 WRC on the first six rounds of the series, with more to come if all goes well. This project will be independent of the Citroen Junior project, so Ogier will be able to gain top level experience without the constraints of championship obligations. Eighteen year old Evgeniy Novikov from Russia is expected to compete at least eight times in the Citroen Junior team. New names to appear on at least six rounds of the world series are the five chosen Pirelli Star Drivers. They will drive identical Mitsubishis in Group N, hoping their talents will give them a chance of World Rally Car competition in years to come.

2009 looks like being a vintage year for the sport, the final year of the current World Rally Car regulations as we know them, though the transitional arrangements for moving on to the new rally car formula are still being defined. The technical rules for the "2010 World Rally Cars" have already been sufficiently detailed to allow both Citroen and Ford to begin their preparation for the next generation of world championship cars, though the timeframe for its introduction is still waiting for clarification. These new rules are critical for the future of the sport as they bring the hope that more manufacturers will be enticed into the top level, and interestingly they are evolved from the Super 2000 formula. Cars complying with this formula have in the past three years made the IRC championship a success not only in its own right, but as an alternative place where WRC teams and drivers can do business. Hanging over all the hopes and plans for 2009, however, is the wait to know how the FIA's new world championship promoter will operate. The appointment of an all-powerful promoter was the condition for Citroen and Ford's continued presence in the series. The identity of the body entrusted with this responsibility is to be announced before the start of Rally Ireland, but that is only one side of the picture. How they will operate is another. Their work is not scheduled to start till 2011, which gives a lot of opportunity to settle into their new task.

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