New Zealand’s struggles to win back a round of the World Rally Championship have been long and well documented, but now the Aussies ‘across the ditch’ are facing a similar battle.
Rally Australia’s contract to run a round of the WRC ends after this November’s event, and getting the FIA and the WRC Promoter to sign on for a new deal is anything but a formality.
Pressure from other countries wishing to join the WRC – including Croatia, Japan, and Kenya – have put Rally Australia on notice, despite the event being one of the drivers’ favourites, and one of the most well organised.
Gone are the days when a well-run rally was the key indicator on whether your country deserved the right to host a round of the sport’s premier series, as New Zealand well knows.
Now, with live coverage of all stages being beamed around the world, the promoter is after ‘bums on seats’ (or feet on stages!) more than ever.
Australia’s Coffs Harbour-based event has continually improved in all areas since the rally was first held on the New South Wales central coast in 2011, but attracting crowds that come anywhere near those that attend European events is never going to become a reality.
Australia’s population is bigger and there are more cars sold than in New Zealand, but the fact remains that spectator numbers aren’t anywhere near large enough to make the WRC promoter happy.
Whether that should be an indicator on whether either country deserves to be included in the championship might be the European way of determining an answer, but it’s surely not ours.
It’s been said a million times before, but the title “World” means the WRC should be held in in all corners of the globe, regardless of population base or spectator numbers.
It’s rather ironic that Australia has a round of the WRC, yet has no regular competitor to keep pushing Rally Australia’s case.
On the other hand, Hayden Paddon has endlessly pushed for the series to return to his home country, but so far that has fallen on deaf ears.
Rally Australia’s directing team have almost totally re-worked the route for this November’s event in order to keep things fresh and take away the advantage of those drivers who have been coming back to the rally for several years.
Organisers have had pressure put on them to run a stage in Sydney to begin the rally – a long and arduous six-hour drive from Coffs Harbour – but that’s a logistical nightmare that would force major changes to the rally itinerary.
It’s a scenario that’s making Rally Australia organisers more than a little nervous until the 2019 calendar is released.
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