The Intercontinental Rally Challenge reconvened at full strength after its somewhat diluted run in Kenya. Skoda were making a comeback with the Fabia, but as they are not competing in many rounds in 2009, Briton Kris Meeke was understandably cautious about challenging them for the victory in Portugal.

A new circuit and country for the WTCC and a new soft option tyre for the V8 Supercars, meant one thing - plenty of top class racing action, and maybe a change in the form books. SEAT have dominated the previous rounds of the 2009 WTCC much like Team Vodafone driver Jamie Whincup has in the V8 Supercars.

The World Rally Championship moved to Argentina, and the Hampshire circuit of Thruxton welcomed the British Touring Car Championship. Both venues provided warm and rain-free racing for the weekend, as well as some top class action.

Fresh from Ford's domination of the opening points races in Adelaide, and the non-points outing as Grand Prix support at Albert Park in Melbourne, the V8 Supercars headed to New Zealand for the second running of the Hamilton 400.

The first weekend of April saw an action packed Motorsport calendar. The World Rally Championship was hosted on the Algarve in Portugal, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in Kenya and the opening round of the British Touring Car Championship from Brands Hatch, all provided high quality action.

The World Touring Car Championship moved northwards from Brazil, to Puebla in Mexico. The BMWs would be looking to strike back after being swamped by the SEATs in the last round. The Australian V8 Supercar Championship got under way again with the Clipsal 500 at Adelaide, numerous driver and regulation changes meant that this season would be interesting from the word go.

Sebastien Loeb furthered himself from the previous breed of the World Rallying elite, as he secured his 50th WRC victory in Cyprus. On what was the first mixed surface event in over 12 years, Loeb dominated from the outset leaving his rivals trailing.

A double header of motorsport action descended upon the Brazilian city of Curitiba. The World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) were both held at the same venue, with the Rally moving outwards around the city for the stages proper.

The pure snow event of Rally Norway is the only scheduled snow rally on the 2009 WRC calendar. Five time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb has never managed to dominate on these rallies in the past, but after successfully conquering such demanding rallies as Finland, the Monte and GB, he was expected to put up a strong fight for this one.

The first WRC event of the season took place in Ireland. Harsh weather met the crews as they descended on the Emerald Isle, with snow, heavy rain and ice featuring throughout the shakedown, and leaving slippery surfaces for the event proper.