IRC – Dimitar Iliev leads the Sliven Rally

The FIA ​​World Council helped find a solution to restore the image of European rallies, shared between the IRC Series and the European Rally Championship. If Eurosport Events succeeded in launching its own discipline in 2007, the IRC also suffers from a lack of participants. The promoter will therefore manage theERC in place of the IRC for a period of ten years from 2013. In the meantime, the IRC Championship continues its course with the Sliven Rally which, after the Yalta Rally, is further proof that the discipline is now falling into disuse. The next meeting at San Remo should fortunately give some color to the Championship.

The absence of regular contenders for victory allows local drivers to shine. At the end of the first stage, Dimitar Iliev is in the lead of the Bulgarian event. The driver of the Skoda Fabia S2000 is less than 12 seconds ahead of his compatriot Petar Gyoshev who is racing on a Peugeot 207 S2000. Todor Slavov completes the podium on his Renault Clio R3 and thus dominates the two-wheel drive category. His place remains threatened by Yagiz Avci (Ford Fiesta S2000), winner of the previous Yalta Rally event, fourth, just nine seconds behind the Bulgarian. Robert Consani occupies tenth position, fifth of the two-wheel drive, at the wheel of Renault Mégane RS.