Rally Australia inks three-year government deal
Baku, August 30, AZERTAC
Rally Australia will receive three more years of support from the New South Wales government, as the event looks to secure its future on the World Rally Championship schedule beyond 2018, according to motorsport.com.
News of the ongoing government funding was confirmed at a launch event in host city Coffs Harbour yesterday, and comes at a crucial time as a number of new and returning events scrap over spots on the WRC calendar for the next couple of seasons.
“The WRC has been confirmed for ’18, ’19, and ’20 by the NSW Government,” said Andrew Fraser MP, Member for Coffs Habrour.
“We will continue to fund it on the Coffs Coast, which is great news. We have an opportunity to keep this event here and keep Coffs Harbour on the world stage.”
While the government support bodes well for the tie-up between Rally Australia and the Coffs Harbour area, in itself it’s not a guarantee that Australia will retain its slot on the WRC schedule.
The first step is to have Rally Australia’s draft spot on the 2018 calendar officially confirmed, which should be a formality now that a return to New Zealand has effectively been taken off the table due to concerns over finances and commercial viability.
But while confident for next year, Rally Australia Clerk of Course Wayne Kenny concedes that a fresh three-year deal like the one coming to an end this year is unlikely, and that year-on-year agreements will determine the event’s fate for 2019 and 2020.
“We’re on the calendar for 2018, and we expect that we’ll remain there,” said Kenny.
“The WRC promoter has already stated that he doesn’t think New Zealand will be there due to lack of funding, and I think Croatia had an issue with dates.
“So logically, if you look at what’s available around the world, we’re the obvious choice to remain where we are.”
“The 2018 event will be the only contract that we’ll get [this year]. We won’t get ’19 and ’20 straight up, because there are no three-year contracts going at the moment.
“We were the first event to get a three-year contract, now there’s only 12-month contracts.
“There are numerous countries trying to come into the championship, but we’re in a solid position. We’re reasonably confident we won’t have a problem.”
In terms of date, Kenny is expecting Rally Australia’s draft slot as the season finale to be honoured next year, which means retaining the third weekend in November.
It also means Supercars will need to retain the end of November weekend for its season-ending Newcastle round, if it wants to avoid a clash with the WRC event.
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