This week’s decision to cancel the 2020 New Zealand Rally Championship with seven months of the year still to run was a bold decision.
Yet rallying needs to look at it as a tremendous opportunity to reload ahead of 2021, and further develop what is already one of the world’s most successful national rally championships.
The first two rounds of the championship, Otago and Whangarei, had already been postponed because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The third of the five rounds wasn’t scheduled until the latter part of June.
While it may seem that organisers have reacted a little early in making their decision, many feel that the sport needed that clarity early, rather than barrelling into June and July in a state of uncertainty.
Rallying is a much trickier motorsport to organiser than, say, circuit racing. Rally organisers must deal with multiple councils, hundreds of residents along the rally route, local towns and cities, and a whole host of people and organisations that are vital to the successful running of a national championship event.
Current lockdowns have been reduced from Level 4 to Level 3, but it’s understood that for rallying to get underway again, the country would need to be at Level 1.
There’s hope that will happen in the coming weeks, but it only needs another run on positive COVID-19 cases for the Government to reconsider our movements, and in particular, those that are deemed ‘non essential’.
There’ll still be rallies run later in 2020, and with no championship at stake, you can expect crews to be eager to get out there and compete, no matter what the level of event.
It should also benefit rallies like the Silver Fern, which is still on track to be held in November. Drivers who had planned an NZRC campaign may now be seriously looking at the marathon event to get their rally fix.
Looking ahead, it bodes well for 2021 too.
12 months without the NZRC will have everyone champing at the bit to contest the 2021 season, and you can almost guarantee that the opening rounds next year will have fully subscribed fields.
There’s no doubting we’re all missing being out there competing, officiating, spectating or, for many, working on rallies. It hurts that we can’t do what we love, and that circumstances beyond our control have impacted life as we know it.
On the flip side, we can all see the bigger picture too, realising that taking the right steps now should deliver benefits in the months and years ahead.
It wasn’t an easy decision to cancel the 2020 NZRC so early, but full marks to the championship co-ordinators for making the tough call. And bring on 2021.
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