Rally Russia 2008 held in the town of Vyborg is round 4 of the IRC and has an interesting entry list

Rally Russia, round four of the IRC, is set to be a fascinating event with an intriguing field assembled. The event is held from the 10-12 of July. Anton Alen returns as last years winner and is hoping his season can improve in Russia after a disasterous year in the Fiat so far. The Russian stages are akin to Finland so it should be the setting for many hotly contested battles throughout the field.

No.1 seed, (courtesy of his A seeding) Simon Jean-Joseph will use the C2 R2 Max as he continues his tour of European events to promote the car for Citroen. Behind him will be the main IRC contenders of Vouilloz, Loix, Basso (who is currently analysing his and the car's performance in Ypres) et al. This should form the heart of the battle with the likes of Hanninen, Vertonov, Novikov, Tirabassi joining in. Also, Didier Auriol returns to the series in his Grifone Punto but may not challenge for outright victory as admitted in Portugal wasn't as quick or brave as the younger drivers.

A very interesting contest should be that of Kris Meeke and Guy Wilks. Meeke was invited by Renault Sport to drive a Munaretto run, Power Car Team entered, Clio R3 after impressing with the Clio S1600 in Killarney. Wilks will be in the JAS prepared Honda Civic R3 in which he has already competed in prior to Russia. Will be good to see how they get on in neutral ground.

Some drivers missing include IRC leader Rossetti as didn't have the budget and Kopecky whose car can't be repaired after it's suspicious accident in Ypres. There was some speculation that Manfred Stohl might have been there in a Munaretto run 207 but this dosen't seem to have materialised. Also, Novikov is entered in a Subaru but may switch to a 207 as has had a torrid time with the N14. Juha Hanninen will compete in a BF Goodrich Drivers' Team Peugeot 207.

It appears that Novikov has elected to use the N14

Rally Russia 2008 Entry List

http://rallyzone.ru/.db/Spisok-RRussia-08.xls

Look back at Rally Russia 2007

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• Bernd Casier was one of the stars of Ypres 2008 here is a video of him testing prior to the rally and one of him during it
• Rally Russia 2008 Day 3 Final Results and Hanninen wins the IRC event
• ADAC Eifel Rallye 2008 has some interesting WRCars in the entry
• Toshi Arai wins the Rally Hokkaido 2008 in Japan which is a round of the APRC
• Brice Tirabassi has withdrawn from the remainder of the 2008 IRC series