Malaysia Rally date change

The organisers of the Malaysia Rally have been forced to bring the date for the event forward.

“We have had to change the date for the Malaysian Rally due to circumstances beyond our control,” Clerk of the Course Tengku Shaharin Abu Bakar said.

The original date, which would have seen the event run on the 8-10 April, conflicted with the date for the F1 Malaysian Grand Prix. The organisers of the rally have now announced that the event will run one week earlier, on the 1-3 April.

“The Malaysian F1 [Grand Prix] has recently been scheduled for the weekend of April 8-10, the same weekend as our original date for the Malaysian Rally. He added.

An idea put forward was to run the event a week later, on the 15-17 April. Ultimately, this idea was scrapped because it would have brought the Malaysian opener too close to the second round of the APRC, the International Rally of Queensland, which will be held on the 13-15 May.

The CoC apologised on behalf of the organisers, saying: “We do apologise for any inconvenience caused due to the date change. We look forward to welcoming everyone to the APRC 2011 season starter in Malaysia.”