RALLY GB TO COVER FOUR DAYS… IF IT RUNS
Ahead of doubts about Wales Rally GB emerging, event insiders had dismissed reports suggesting Britain’s round of the WRC would switch to a threeday format.
As Motorsport News closed for press, the event was still due to take place from October 26-November 1 as round six of the season.
However, with a behindclosed-doors edition unworkable due to the need to sell tickets to prevent the rally from making a financial loss (Motorsport News, May 27), cancellation may be the only course of action for the organisers. That is in light of the Welsh Government been unlikely to relax rules preventing mass gatherings anytime soon.
Although the itinerary has remained unpublished, Motorsport News understands that a four-day timetable has been approved by the FIA.
While a three-day option was proposed to the governing body, this was in response to a previous request for events to consider running over a shorter distance as part of measures to squeeze several rallies, such as Portugal and Sardinia, into a congested period.
But with Portugal cancelled and planning issues impacting on Sardinia being rescheduled, the requirement quickly diminished to alter the format of Wales Rally GB, which would also have been a non-starter due to the event’s dependency on ticket sales.
Precise details of the Wales Rally GB route have remained under wraps but clerk of the course Iain Campbell told Motorsport News there would not be any “innovative ideas”.
“We were pursuing these [innovative ideas],” said Campbell of the planned itinerary. “Unfortunately, Covid-19 turned up and with everybody entering into lockdown it meant we couldn’t proceed any further. We’ve gone back to the tried and tested, back to a route we know we can run by doing 85% of the work from our desks because we [couldn’t get] out to the stages [due to the lockdown].”
If Wales Rally GB is lost from the schedule, organisers will be spared the task of refunding tickets as sales have remained on hold due to Covid-19 restrictions.