34 Entries for Cyprus

Cyprus Rally organisers provisionally show a total of 34 entries for the third round of the FIA's world rally championship event (13-15 March). Of these 28 are championship priority drivers including three JWRC entries and 13 registered PCWRC drivers while two are expected to be "Guest" (wild card) PCWRC entries and the remaining four are fully privateers. In addition to the four two-car manufacturer championship entries seen in Ireland and Norway, Federico Villagra has been entered by the Munchi's team as a single car championship entry, under the new system authorised by the World Rally Championship Commission. Another recent change is that Nasser Al Attiyah has a new codriver for this year. He will compete on PCWRC and MERC events with the Italian Giovanni Bernacchini. Bernacchini is not new to the Middle East. He competed on MERC rounds in 2008 with the Lebanese driver Roger Feghali and on the opening 2009 MERC event (Qatar) alongside Nasser's cousin Faisal. The Cyprus Rally has recently announced a three-year commercial support agreement. The event will now officially be known as FxPro Cyprus Rally.

Note: 1) there were 34 actual starters at Monte Carlo in 2005, and the smallest previous JWRC entry was four in Argentina in 2006. 2) Under new FIA guidelines, closing dates for world championship entries have been reduced from five weeks to seven days, which is why the current FXPro Cyprus Rally entry list is "provisional".

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Photo: Last winner in Cyprus when round of WRC