The start of the Istanbul Rally, first round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, will be given Saturday April 5th.

The contenders were initially set to contest the season's opening race in Kenya, but political unrest forced IRC organisers to pull the Safari Rally event off the calendar last January, thereby establishing Turkey as the first destination of the series this year.

The country's largest city will host the IRC during the first week-end of April. Entry forms can still be filed until Friday March 21st, with the official entry list to be published five days afterwards.

The rally programme is as follows:

Tuesday, April 1

12:00 : Opening of the Service Park

15:00 - 19:00 : Collection of material and documents

Wednesday, April 2

08:30 – 11:00 : Collection of material and documents

11:00 – 19:00 : 1st day of reconnaissance

16:00 – 19:00 : Administrative checks for FIA

Thursday, April 3

08:00 - 19:00 : 2nd day of reconnaissance

10:00 – 16:00 : Administrative checks for FIA

12:00 : Media Centre opens

15:00 : Safety Tracking System test

16:00 – 20:00 : Administrative checks for private entries

Friday, April 4

08:00 – 12:00 : Scrutineering & sealing – marking

10:30 – 11:00 : Recce of Shakedown

11:00 – 13:00 : Shakedown

13:30 : First stewards' meeting

14:30 : Publication of Start List for Day 1

14:30 : Pre-rally press conference

18:00 : Ceremonial Start

Saturday, April 5

08:30 : Start of Day 1

19:07 : Finish of Day 1 / Parc Fermé

22:30 : Publication of Day 2 partial unofficial classification

22:30 : Publication of Start List for Day 2

Sunday April 6

08:50 : Start of Day 2

15:42 : Finish of Day 2 and of rally

16:30 : FIA press conference

16:30 : Final Checks

18:30 : Publication of provisional results