Rally Turkey will announce its date change tomorrow, paving the way for Belgium’s first ever World Rally Championship round in October.
As outlined by DirtFish last month Turkey’s decision to move forward by one week from September 24-27 to 17-20 will allow the Ypres Rally to run from October 2-4.
The Marmaris-based event will run a near identical schedule to last year’s WRC round and give the teams 10 days to re-prepare cars – switching them from gravel to asphalt specification – before moving to Belgium.
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener told DirtFish: “We’re pleased that we’re getting the chance to compete on these events – as a company, we need to go rallying right now.
“But at the same time, and as we’ve discussed previously, Turkey to Ypres will be a challenge logistically. We’ll just have to get on with it and find a way to make it work.”
Turkey’s move means there will be three rallies in four weeks, going from Rally Estonia (September 4-6) to Ypres Rally (October 2-4).
Millener explained the team will re-prepare the cars twice on the road in this period, once after the Tartu-based event which re-starts the WRC and the second time in Belgium after Turkey and before Ypres.
