Round 3 day 2 of the 2009 World Rally Championship.

Round 3 day 3 of the 2009 World Rally Championship.

Returning to the WRC after a two year absence, Rally Cyprus has undergone a serious makeover. Once purely a hot, dusty and rough gravel rally - similar in character to the Acropolis Rally of Greece - Cyprus is now the only the rally of the year to feature a mixture of road surfaces. Day one will be contested on asphalt roads, while days two and three will continue to offer the sort of challenging gravel stages for which the event is renowned. As in previous years the Service Park and rally headquarters will be located close to the seafront in the holiday resort of Limassol on the island's south coast. New for 2009 Rally Cyprus is blazing a trail in 2009 as the only event in the season to try a mixed surface format. Organisers say they have already been contacted by other events anxious to find out how it will work. If all goes well, we can expect more mixed-surface events in the future. Cyprus is the first of four rallies this year eligible for the WRC, J-WRC and P-WRC competitions.