Last year's average speed of just 64kph made Cyprus easily the slowest event of the Championship. SWRT's Richard Burns and Petter Solberg have been nominated for Manufacturers' points, with Toshihiro Arai driving the third car. Originally a replacement for the China Rally, Cyprus is now in its second year as part of the series, and presents teams with a challenging mix of high summer temperatures and extremely rough terrain. The event is based around Rally HQ in the coastal town of Lemesos and is made up of 22 rocky and twisty stages, which keep speeds down.
Low speeds mean low airflow for the cars' cooling systems.
With air temperatures expected to be in the mid 30's centigrade, and ground temperatures of more than 45 degrees, drivers, cars and tyres are in for some punishment. In preparation for the next two Mediterranean rallies in Cyprus and Greece, Richard Burns and Markko Martin have been busy testing on rough gravel roads in southern Spain. Between them they covered a total of 450km on roads representative of the slow and rocky terrain. All SWRT drivers and co-drivers have attended a test and an acclimatization training camp, run by the Team's Human Performance Department. They were involved in a series of activities designed to help them adjust to working in the Cypriot heat.