LIVE TV THE FOCUS AS NEWERA EUROPEAN BATTLE BEGINS
WRC hopefuls head to northern Portugal for Fafe’s famous stages
The European Rally Championship will get its moment firmly in the spotlight when Fafe in northern Portugal hosts the start of a new era this weekend.
Now under the control of WRC Promoter, the ERC can look forward to the WRC’s acclaimed All Live service but, as Motorsport News can reveal, the big changes will come in 2023.
That’s when a refreshed calendar will be unleashed along with more expected rule changes to go with the tweaks introduced for 2022, such as a WRC-style powerstage and the scrapping of day bonus points.
However, the big change for this season centres on the live coverage through the WRC+ platform with all 17 stages due to be shown as they happen from Friday night until
Sunday afternoon.
The itinerary includes two runs over the Lameirinha stage and its famous Pedra Sentada jump, while a stage through the streets of host town Fafe has been added to the schedule on
Friday evening.
Entries might be down compared to previous years – 72 registered drivers took part on the 2021 season opener last June compared to the 39 expected for round one this year – but the number will rise from the third
round onwards when the ERC4 Junior Championship begins.
Although a Scot, Iain Campbell, is the championship manager, British and Irish participation is lacking this year with Irish crew Pauric Duffy and Jeff Case plus co-driver James Morgan the only homegrown talents on the Fafe entry list.
There is still a question mark over the venue of the final round. Rally Hungary had been set to stage the climax to the season, but it was kicked off the calendar due to repeated safety breaches and must run within the European Rally Trophy framework before its return to the ERC is considered. Therefore, it’s likely Cyprus – rather than Corsica – will fill the vacant slot this autumn.
While Hungary has been binned, Rally2 Kit and Group N4 cars have been granted a stay of execution via the new ERC Open class. It means Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Lancers can still compete for their own title.