After two cold rounds of The 2009 FIA World Rally Championship heads to warmer action after two cold rounds to start the season.  The Cyprus Rally is a welcome change of pace for most teams after the challenging weather of Ireland and Norway. 

While the weather is a welcome change of pace, don’t think for a moment that the teams will be spending time sunbathing, as this year’s event promises to be action packed from the start.
 
After the Ceremonial Start on Thursday night, the rally really gets started Friday morning from the Service Park in the popular tourist resort of Germasogeia.

134.2km of tarmac greets the drivers on Day One on Pirelli's gravel spec tires.  It will be interesting to see how the gravel tires hold up to the stress of asphalt.  
 
On Day Two, the drivers return to the types of demanding gravel stages for which Cyprus is renowned. Crews will cover a total of 490.07km on the second day of the rally, with 115.6km of special stages.

The Cypress Rally ends with 82.27km over 3 stages on Day Three.  

Defending World Champion Sebastien Loeb will be hopeful that he can prolong his run of victories in Cyprus and add to his record breaking win total. The Citroen driver has won the last three Cyprus WRC events and is only one win away from his 50th WRC career win.