As September quickly draws to a close, we are still waiting with bated breath for the release of the 2020 World Rally Championship calendar.
Down Under, we’re even more eager to know what events are or aren’t on the calendar, but things are still looking promising for a Rally New Zealand return – in 2020 at least.
As recently as last week, the UK press were reporting that New Zealand will replace Australia in the WRC next year, in what may only be a one-off return to the top level.
Rally Australia, which is currently based in Coffs Harbour, won’t run in 2020, but is expected to return the following year.
The FIA may not have been sitting on their hands through this whole drawn out process, but it hasn’t been on the front foot keeping rally fans (and events) informed either.
For weeks it was expected that New Zealand, Japan and Kenya would replace Australia, Turkey and Corsica, but FIA President, Jean Todt, made a surprise appearance in Turkey at the previous round.
This would seem to indicate that the Turkish event will be back again in 2020, with a rotation policy now looking more and more likely.
Todt is keen to extend the number of countries hosting WRC rounds, but also doesn’t want to see more than 14 events in a season.
In essence, this means that rallies may be forced into a rotation system, rumoured to be three years on, one year off.
The latest version of the calendar is believed to list Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Portugal, Sardinia, Kenya, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, Turkey, GB and Japan, according to Autosport magazine.
“We wanted to keep the calendar with 14 rallies and we had more interest than 14 organisers, so we have to make a long-term strategy in order to keep 14 rallies in the calendar and chose the best event on a long-term basis,” Todt said.
This bodes well for New Zealand next year, but after that it remains to be seen if the WRC will be back.
The hosting of the America’s Cup yachting race in 2021 will put a major strain on government funding, which may mean that next year will be Rally New Zealand’s swan song – at least for now.
That’s in the future though, and if Rally New Zealand does find itself as part of the WRC in 2020, Kiwis need to do everything they can to make it difficult for the FIA to take the event away again.
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