Japan and Chile now look set to join the WRC in 2019… and that means a European round losing its place on the calendar. Chile's chances got a big boost in April after WRC Promoter managing director Oliver Ciesla said a candidate rally in the country “really delivered.”
It had been thought that the South American rally was in competition with Japan for a shot on the calendar but sources now say that the Japanese event will also be on a provisional calendar to be presented to the FIA this autumn. WRC Promoter GmbH has already said that the series will expand to 14 rounds next year so the European rally most likely to go is Corsica, unpopular with the teams for its logistical expense and also lacking fans. Organisers of the event would not comment on the rumours.
With Turkey back this year and the Safari expected 2020, it will mean four new events in three years. A Japanese round is said to be essential to the country’s efforts at raising its sporting profile ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Such an event is expected to shift south from its former base on Hokkaido, running on the main island closer to Tokyo.
WRC Promoter GmbH is also anxious to add yet another event, bringing the total to 15 but teams say they are not yet ready for such a move.
"What we need now is for everybody to be getting something from the championship,” a source said. “The teams have been paid by the promoter for Turkey; it's part of the agreement that there's a fee for them to cover some of the logistics. That's a multi-year agreement as well, so the teams will be paid as long as we're going to Turkey. The promoter has to make that happen; it's keen to make a new funding model work where rallies have to pay their way – just as they do in Formula 1. It will be the same agreement with Chile, Japan, and Safari when they arrive."
The promoter has also said that, after a detailed scrutiny, events such as Corsica and Rally Germany have the weakest financial case. Meanwhile, the Safari candidate event will run March or April 2019. Overall, eleven rallies – eight of them outside Europe – are interested in joining the WRC, putting added pressure current events. Croatia too is rebuilding a case for a WRC round, with government funding, although a planned Zagreb-based event is not believed to be among the 11.
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