Countdown to Rally Bulgaria

The excitement which accompanies a new round of the World Rally Championship is building; you can feel it, can’t you? We had the same feeling in Poland and Australia last season - and both delivered awesome rounds of the series - and now we’re heading to Europe’s south-east for Rally Bulgaria.

Given that this is the first visit of the WRC to Europe’s 16th largest country, wrc.com is going to give you an insight into the 111,000-square kilometre nation, which has a population of 7.5 million and nearly no natural lakes.

Bulgarians drive on the right, spend the Lev and have been part of the European Union since January 2007. And, should you want to call anybody in Bulgaria ahead of a possible visit there, you’ll need the international calling code 359 for this Balkan country which boasts a 1,300-year history.

So, now you know a bit about Bulgaria, here’s a bit more about the rally itself. It’s based in a ski resort called Borovets, 70 kilometres south of the country’s capital Sofia. As you’d expect for a region trading on its accumulation of snow every winter, Borovets is pretty high up (in the Rila mountains - where the average rainfall is seven times higher than elsewhere in Bulgarai, so pack a mac) at 1,300 metres.

As if that’s not high enough, the stages themselves climb a further 700 metres, peaking mid-way through the Belmeken Lake (it’s a reservoir, remember what I said about natural lakes...) at 2054 metres.

This might be the event’s first time in the WRC, but it’s the 41st running of Bulgaria’s biggest international rally - which was a full round of the European Rally Championship from 1988, and a WRC Candidate Rally for the last two seasons.

Formerly running out of the Black Sea resort of Zlantni Piasatzi, the organisers of the event shifted 500 kilometres west to Borovets in 2002, enabling them to drastically shorten the liaison sections between Service Park and stages. The upshot of this is one of the most compact - and highest - routes in the WRC.

There might only be seven stages run twice, but of those seven, the shortest is 17.73 kilometres (Sunday’s Slavovitsa - the last stage of the event) and the longest, the event opener is a whopping 31.77 kilometres and called Batak Lake. But, once again, it’s a reservoir not a lake - they might look the same, but don’t be fooled.

The stages themselves will be a mix of Catalan-style sealed surface, good quality quick stuff, but the majority will be more akin to the technical, twisty and, in places bumpy, roads we’re used to seeing on Alpine routes. These roads are covered in snow and ice from late autumn to late spring, so don’t go expecting billiard table stages for three days.

Who’s going to win?

As with any new rally, there’s no form book to count on. But Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb has to start as favourite. The French team has been out testing in Bulgaria ahead of the seventh round of this year’s series and, not having been beaten on world championship black top since 2004, Loeb’s going to take some getting past.

And if Ford manages to edge the Loeb C4, there’s still the sister car of Dani Sordo standing in its way. Sordo’s form on asphalt is exceptional. Whenever the Spaniard has brought a World Rally Car to the finish of an asphalt round of the series, it’s been on the podium. And, as if Citroen’s not strong enough, there’s the small matter of former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen (Citroen Junior Team) to consider - and the Finn certainly knows a thing or two about getting the best out of four wheels on a sealed surface.

Ford’s attack will be led, once again, by Mikko Hirvonen, with his fellow Finn Jari-Matti Latvala backing him up in the second Focus. Stobart driver Matthew Wilson is joined in the Cumbrian team by double Junior champion P-G Andersson, who could spring a surprise or two in his WRC debut in a Ford.

The event is also a round of the Junior World Rally Championship, with Renault Clio driver Kevin Abbring benefiting from a solid outing on the recent Ypres Rally ahead of the next J-WRC round. Abbring will face stiff competition from Belgian Thierry Neuville (Citroen C2 S1600), who has set the Junior pace but failed to find the finish so far this season.