Fourty four crews from nine countries submitted their entries for Mabanol Sliven Rally, round eleven of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The rally in Sliven is for the first time part of the calendar of the championship promoted by Eurosport.

Most of the crews are form Bulgaria - 27, 8 are from Turjey, followed by Romania and Taiwan - 2 and Ukraine, United Kingdom, Estonia, Hungary and Greece represented by 1 crew.

Despite the fact that the current championship leader Andreas Mikkelsen will not start in Sliven, the battle for the first place will be very tight.

Leaving the startng ceremony at "Hadji Dimitar" stadium with number 1 will be the six times Bulgarian champion Dimitar Iliev. He will be behind the wheel of his well known Skoda Fabia S2000. Next in the list is the winner for Rally Yalta - Yagiz Avci. The Castrol Ford Turkey driver who also became a champion in Turkey last year wil be driving Ford Fiesta S2000.

The main rivals of Iliev and Avci will be Petar Gyoshev (Peugeot 207 S2000), Krum Donchev (Peugeot 207 S2000) and the winner from Rally "Stari Stolici" Plamen Staykov (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9).

All of the pretender for the title in the IRC 2WD cup will start in Sliven. Entries are submitted by the current leader in the standings Harry Hunt (Great Britain, Citroen DS3 R3T), the frenchman driving with Ukraininan license Robert Consani (Renault Megane RS) and the estonian Martin Kangur (Honda Civic Type R). They will face the strong competition from the local drivers Todor Slavov (Renault Clio R3), Anton Titov (Citroen DS3 R3T) and Ivan Ganchev (FIAT Punto).

In the IRC Production Cup the battle will also be very interesting. The bulgarian drivers are the main pretenders for the victory. These are Plamen Staykov (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) and Ignat Isaev (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9). From the leaders in this championship Marco Tempestini (Subaru Imreza R4) and Robert Consani (Renault Megane) are about to start in Sliven.

Mabanol Sliven Ralli official start is scheduled for 18:00 on Friday and will be held at the "Hadji Dimitar"Stadium. The first Super Special stage "Sliven"will start at 20:00 on Friday and will be the opennig and most attractive stage in the rally.