The 51st Cyprus International Rally gets underway today with the official opening ceremony taking place at 5.30pm in Spyridaki square, on Makariou avenue in Nicosia.
Organised by the Cyprus Automobile Association, the rally serves as the final and decisive race of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), which will determine the 2024 champion.
It also counts as the third and fourth round of the Cyprus Rally Championship, with each day serving as a separate championship race, weighted at 1.5 times the usual points.
The rally action will unfold on Saturday in the area of Asinou, featuring three dirt stages repeated twice, namely in Xyliatos, Kapouras and Kourdali.
Each stage covers a distance of 49.33 kilometres. The day’s major service break will take place at 5.18pm at the service park located on Kyrenia avenue in Aglandjia, near the police headquarters.
On Sunday there will be three different stages, each run twice, covering 41.81 kilometres per pass. The action will unfold again in the separate areas of Doriforiko, Lefkara and the concluding stage in Geri.
The second run of the Geri stage, 9.63 kilometres in length, will serve as the service break at 3.43pm.
Leading the MERC standings is Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari with 49 points, followed by Jordan’s Shaker Jweihan with 37 points, and Qatar’s 19-time Middle East Rally Champion, and eight-time Cyprus Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah with 35 points.
Al-Kuwari and Al-Attiyah will drive Skoda Fabia R5s, while Jweihan will compete in a Mitsubishi Lancer.
A total of 90 points are up for grabs in the Cyprus Rally Championship. Leading the standings with 60 points are Simos Galatariotis and Antonis Ioannou, who will compete in a Volkswagen Polo GTi R5.
Pambos Yiangou and Andreas Nicolaou, currently in second place with 48 points, will drive a Hyundai i20 R5 and have also entered the MERC. Third in the standings with 30 points are Nestoros and Kallis in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, while Zinos and Christofi, in a Citroen DS3 R5, are in fourth place with 21 points.
A total of 21 crews from five countries will compete in the rally.
The technical inspection of the track began on Thursday and will end on Friday morning.
The 51st Cyprus International Rally is sponsored by Visit Qatar, Psaltis Auto Parts, ENEOS Motor Oil, Sparco, Cablenet, Pharmakas Natural Spring Water, ANCO Catering Equipment, and Stop Fire.
Supporters include the Nicosia municipality, the Kapnos airport shuttle service and the Jeep Club Cyprus.
