You’d think that the unavoidable cancellation of Rally New Zealand last week would mean that the event would now be included in the 2021 World Rally Championship calendar, but it may not be that simple.
Like many other events, Rally New Zealand’s COVID-19 cancellation is a significant blow to the championship, but in this case, it was a one-off event, with the round supposedly heading back to Australia in 2021.
Now though, none of that is certain, and indeed there are mixed messages coming from the sport’s authorities about what lies in store for the WRC in 2021 and beyond.
“The event has a strong WRC heritage and I’m sure the drivers would have loved to be back on its iconic stages or discover them for the first time,” FIA Rally Director, Yves Matton, said last week.
“Motorsport New Zealand and the organising team have done fantastic work so far and we are already looking ahead to the rally taking place in the near future.”
One vote for Rally New Zealand in 2021.
A couple of days later though, the WRC Promoter’s boss, Oliver Ciesla, was pushing for even more rallies to be added to the WRC calendar.
“Bring rallies to the world’s biggest markets: the United States and China,” Ciesla said. “The COVID-19 has held us back, but it is our goal for the future.
“We want to have races in those countries, in the United States and China, to expand our visibility and that of the manufacturers that have decided to invest and race in the WRC.
“It will be something that we will do in the future and we will do it for sure.”
So, is that one vote against Rally New Zealand in 2021?
If you throw in the impact the Coronavirus pandemic has had on businesses around the world, the whole thing gets even more confusing.
Undoubtedly, the world’s car manufacturers will be spending less money in 2021, and that means that promotion of things outside the day-to-day selling of motor vehicles will be heavily impacted.
Rallying is one of those things, and in this regard the manufacturers may be able to ride the WRC Promoter to get the outcome they want in 2021.
If travelling way down south to Australia or New Zealand is not on their wish list next year, then the WRC may be forced to bow to the manufacturers’ wishes.
Sure, it’s a ‘world’ championship and that means travelling to all parts of the globe, but if the manufacturers say we can’t afford it, is the WRC Promoter likely to ignore them?
At the risk of losing the manufacturers from the championship altogether, you’d have to say “definitely not”.
Everyone is making the right noises at the moment. Rally New Zealand is planning for the WRC to visit the country in 2021, and the WRC is hinting that it’s part of the plan.
Yet until we start to emerge from the COVID-19 debacle, we won’t know for sure.
At present the WRC Promoter is still trying to salvage something from 2020, and that’s still a moving target.
There are currently way more questions than there are answers, and if Europe and North America get the dreaded “second wave”, then all bets will be off for the foreseeable future.
Rally New Zealand 2021? Don’t mark it into your diary just yet.
Main picture: 2010 Rally NZ winner – Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 09
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