Penultimate round of the European rally championship is run this coming weekend. This is the Rallye Antibes Cote d’Azur run some stages made popular on Rallye Monte Carlo, and the series could be settled here. The event will start at 1900 on Friday evening with a single stage on the seafront at Antibes, before two full days in the Alpes Maritimes. The Antibes will finish with two daylight stages down the Col du Turini. Abarth works driver Giandomenico Basso starts number one and has 9 point lead over Michal Solowow with Corrado Fontana as a outsider still in the running. Antonin Tlustak will clinch the 2wd title with his Citroen C2 S1600 as his only rival Todor Slavov has not entered. 57 crews have entered the ERC category of this event but a total of 132 will take part on this event altogether. The final round of the series is the Rallye du Valais in Switzerland two weeks later.

Rally GB competitors are out in force on this Saturday’s Cambrian Rally at Llandudno at 0800, using five special stages in forests in North Wales. World championship leader Mikko Hirvonen, who won the event seven years ago, will drive a zero car. Entered as official competitors are World Rally Car driver Mads Ostberg, PCWRC competitors Spyros Pavlides, Nasser Al Attiyah and Eyvind Brynildsen.

No decision yet has been taken about the cars the Peugeot Kronos team will enter on the Rally of Scotland, the final round of the IRC, though it is expected the IRC champion Kris Meeke will take part, also a British driver in the BF Goodrich celebrity car. The decision expected to be made next week just before entries close.

The location for the French round of the 2010 world rally championship, to be decided between the traditional Tour de Corse, and the contender Alsace-Vosges, will not be known until after the end of the final round of the 2009 season. A decision which was to be taken on 6th October has now been postponed until the 28th.

President of the Italian federation Angelo Sticchi Damiani has confirmed that Rally Italia aims to develop their world championship rally into the future and plans to run its 2011 event in Sardinia but with a ceremonial start in Rome. Italy has no world championship event in 2010 but the Sanremo Rally will qualify for the IRC.

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