Next year's International Rally Championship includes three new events in the 12-rally schedule.

The series, which starts with Monte Carlo for the second year in succession, includes three rallies which had been included in this year's World Rally Championship: Argentina, Sardinia and Cyprus.

Cyprus shifts its date significantly from March to November, where it replaces Britain's round – Rally of Scotland – as the final round of the series. Argentina and Italy are rumored to have joined IRC on a single-season contract, with the aim of returning to the WRC in 2011.

The calendar offers a 50-50 split of asphalt and gravel and will also include two events running a split asphalt-gravel format: Sanremo and Sardinia. The Safari Rally and Rally Russia are the casualties from this year's calendar.

"This exciting calendar reflects the increasing status of IRC in world motorsport, with more and more prestigious events joining our series," said Geraldine Filiol, Managing Director of Eurosport Events. "We have taken a number of major steps forward with high levels for both competition and ground-breaking live TV coverage. This contributes to the spectacular rise in the profile of the series.

"For 2010, we are embarking on our most ambitious season yet: not only do we start the season with the legendary Monte Carlo Rally with fully 14 hours of live action, but we will extend this innovative Live television production to four other events across the year."

This year's IRC concludes with next month's Rally of Scotland, although Kris Meeke and Peugeot have already won the drivers' and teams' titles.

2010 International Rally Championship 

January 19-23     Rallye Monte-Carlo                  
March 4-06        Rally Internacional de Curitiba     
March 19-21       Rally Argentina                     
June 4-6          Rally d'Italia Sardegna             
June 24-26        Belgium Ypres Rally                 
July 15-17        Sata Rally Açores                   
August 5-7        Rally Vinho Madeira                 
August 27-29      Barum Czech Rally Zlín              
September 9-11    Rally Principe de Asturias          
September 23-25   Rallye Sanremo                      
October 14-16     RAC MSA Rally of Scotland           
November 4-6      FxPro Cyprus Rally