About WRC ex-events
Nine events run in 2008 do not appear on the 2009 calendar and a lot of alternative ideas are being floated around.

Monte Carlo was the first rally to declare its intentions, signing up to become a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). They have accepted the chance to continue their concept of an old time event with a three event which encompasses the traditional stages in the Ardeche, Vercors and Alpes Maritimes regions, and finishes late on a Friday night. Next to go missing is 2009 is Sweden. 2008 has been a difficult year in Swedish rally sport, global warming creating great problems. Various national championship events have had to be cancelled or postponed, including the national championship section of the 2008 world championship event. The Swedish federation has decided to spend their energies assuming control of national championship events. One of the national events will be based at Hagfors and use the existing superspecial course in Karlstad. In this way the promoters of the Swedish Rally will keep their momentum in Karlstad alive.

Jordan knew all the time they would not feature in the 2009 calendar, and they have the advantage of running their MERC regional rally every year. The 2009 regional rally will continue to use the world championship's Dead Sea location as their base, and provide the chance to develop the ideas they put into effect at WCR level in 2008. The <final OR latest> rally to announce their plans is Corsica, who are planning a Targa-type event, five days long, admitting all sorts of cars. Heading this project is Alain Mahe, the codriver who personally won the Tour de Corse five times.

Rally Australia Plans Confirmed
Announced was confirmation that Rally Australia will be reborn in NewSouth Wales, after a two year break. It is to run every two years as a world championship event, sponsored by Repco. Repco will alternate their support with Rally New Zealand with which Rally Australia will be rotated under the WRC calendar system. The rally Headquarters is at the Salt resort just south of the state boundary with Queensland, the service park will be alongside the beach at nearby Kingsliff. The majority of stages will be run in the Tweed and Kyogle shires. The first event will be held 3-6 September, and the five-event agreement with the promoters Events NSW confirms the agreement up to the year 2017. The region is easily accessible being close to the regional Gold Coast airport in southern Queensland and two hours south of Brisbane. In the week before the rally, teams are to participate in promotional activities in Sydney.

Rallying is not new to New South Wales. Championship rallies are run further south in the state, while the Rally of Canberra is run in the ACT enclave inside the state. In earlier years the Southern Cross international event was run in the state, and the 1969 event used stages in the area where Rally Australia will now be based. More details are to be announced in the coming months, but it is already known that the sporting organisation will be entrusted to a mixture of officials who ran the old Rally Australias in Western Australia and local officials, headed by Garry Connelly who founded the series in 1988. The series of events in Western Australia ended with the event in 2006.

Night Stages in Ireland
Two closed-road Monte-Carlo style night stages are to be run on Rally Ireland (29 January – 1 February), the opening round of the 2009 world rally championship. This will be the second time Rally Ireland has commanded world status, and linked to the event will be a major pre-rally presentation the weekend before the event in Belfast. The basic running of the rally remains unchanged, with the town of Sligo in the Republic staying as the headquarters location. Ronan Morgan and Shaun O'Connor, the founders and joint promoters of Rally Ireland, have left the organisation of the world championship rally, and handed their responsibilities over to the Irish Republic federation Motorsport Ireland.

3mmm
photo 1: Vouiiloz - Peugeot 207 S2000
photo 2: Gar Connelly
photo 3: Shaun O'Connor