LATVIA AND ESTONIA COULD FORM PART OF WRC RESCUE PACKAGE
Baltic double set to be confirmed as additions to the refreshed line-up
A Baltic double is being lined up to save the World Rally Championship season.
Rally Liepaja in Latvia and
Rally Estonia are expected to be confirmed as rounds four and five of the 2020 season within days.
The gravel events, both WRC newcomers, will take place from August 13-16 and September 3-6 respectively. Rally Liepaja, which will run one week after Rally Finland’s scheduled date, will host a combined European championship and WRC event. The last time this happened was on the Swedish Rally in 1980. Rally Estonia inherits Rally New Zealand’s calendar slot.
A Baltic blast?
Rally Liepaja and Rally Estonia would more than hold their own in the WRC – and offer a highspeed fix for drivers and fans.
Their close geographical proximity and similar nature will appeal to teams, many of whom are facing cash shortages as lockdown measures ease.
Both rallies benefit from sound organisation and promotion, plus government backing.
Rally Liepaja ran for the first time in 2013 and has remained part of the ERC ever since. Based in the city of the same name in western Latvia, the event is organised by Raimonds Strokss’ RA Events, the company behind Latvia’s World RX event in Riga.
The city’s former mayor is Uldis Sesks, a former rally driver and father of Junior WRC contender Martins Sesks. Eurosport Events, promoter of the ERC, has agreed to the joint-event plan.
Back from the brink
Despite securing official WRC Promotional Event status for 2019, Rally Estonia, which had been planned for July
24-26, was cancelled following a dispute with Estonia’s governing body, the Estonian Autosport Union, over 5000 per cent hike in permit fee charges.
But a resolution has been found and it appears Estonia’s World Rally Championship debut is a formality.
Beyond the Baltics?
With the WRC Commission stopping short of presenting a revised 2020 calendar to last Friday’s Fiaworld Motor Sport Council for ratification in light of the ongoing negotiations with the events in Liepaja and Estonia – plus Belgium’s Ypres Rally, the make-up of the remaining events remained unclear as Motorsport News went to press.
Post-rally Estonia, Rally
Turkey is still scheduled for September 24-27, followed by Rally Germany from October 15-18.
Sardinia is expected to take Rally GB’S October 29-November 1 slot with Rally Japan organisers “determined to hold the event as planned” from November
19-22, despite the canning of the Japanese bike and car grands prix.
However, Rally Germany’s status has been clouded by government measures extending the ban on mass gatherings until the end of October, while it emerged last week that Sardinia bosses have concerns about the reduced daylight hours at that time of year and a reluctance to run their notoriously dusty stages in darkness.
The Covid-19 threat
Covid-19 restrictions in Estonia and Latvia remain. As of last Friday, UK passport holders were still required to observe 14 days of quarantine upon entering both countries, although the rule doesn’t apply to citizens of EU states.
In Latvia, outdoor events are limited to 300 people until July. Over the border in Estonia the limit is 1000.
Other options
Although a WRC return to Cyprus has been ruled out due to the costs and logistics involved in getting to the island event, which is a round of the ERC and falls on the same weekend as Rally Germany, the Croatia and Monza rallies emerged as outside contenders last week.
But organisers of Rally Islas Canarias confirmed there has been no approach from WRC Promoter.