Rally Bulgaria

Kimi Räikkönen in SS7 Lyubnitsa – 41st Rally Bulgaria 2010
Dimitar Iliev is the second Bulgarian pilot to win the rally (in 2007) after Ilia Chubrikov. Iliev won for the second time in 2012 as well.
Krum Donchev won for the first time in 2008. He, together with Iliev, also has won the event twice, the second time in 2014.

Rally Bulgaria (Рали България) is the most prestigious and also the oldest rally event in Republic of Bulgaria. It was confirmed for the 2010 World Rally Championship season as the seventh of all thirteen planned events. Year 2010 was also the first and so far the only one that Rally Bulgaria has been in the World Rally Championship, having previously hosted races for the European Rally Championship[1] instead. The application of the country was accepted by the FIA despite the fact that Rally Bulgaria's candidate event in July 2009 ended in an accident which killed Italian co-driver Flavio Guglielmini[2] and seriously injured Swiss driver Brian Lavio.[1] Bulgaria was the only new candidate for the 2010 World Rally Championship season, although Rally Argentina had made a reserve application just in case Bulgarian rally failed.[2]

The latest HQ of the rally is the town of Samokov (2013–2015) and the route of the event contains special stages in Bulgaria's Sofia Province and Pazardzhik Province. The route, including some of the special stages, passes through the famous Borovets ski resort which was HQ from 2002 to 2012, meaning that it has also hosted the 2010 World Rally Championship season[3] event.

  1. ^ a b "Rally Bulgaria put on WRC calendar for 2010, official says". The Echo. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  2. ^ a b "2010 World Rally Championship events agreed". FIA World Rally Championship. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  3. ^ "Rally Bulgaria enters the World Rally Championship in 2010". Bulgaria Gazette. Retrieved 14 January 2010.