MOTORSPORT: It's official – no Rally Oz next year

As has been widely expected for months, Australia has lost its place in next year’s World Rally Championship to New Zealand.

The Rally Australia on November 14-17 this year will be the last at Coffs Harbour, although the event could return to Australia as early as 2021 at another location.
Canberra, traditionally the hub of rallying in eastern Australia, is favourite as the venue for any resurrection.

Rally Australia organisers are claiming the WRC has “a new policy of event rotation”.

Rally Oz chairman – and Confederation of Australian Motor Sport president – Andrew Papadopoulos says “we’ll be ready to take our place again on the world stage from 2021”.

“We’re extremely proud of Rally Australia’s standing as one of the best-run WRC events over 27 years,” Papadopoulos said.

The event ran in Western Australia for almost two decades, then moved to NSW’s Northern Rivers area and more recently to Coffs Harbour, where WRC organisers have been concerned about small crowds.

Papadopoulos said the Rally Australia team would work hard to ensure November’s event “is the best the Coffs Coast has seen”.

Rally NZ chief executive Michael Goldstein has admitted that the rally across the Tasman next September 3-6 is only a one-off, but added: “We wanted to get it back on whatever basis we can. We’re just looking at putting on a world-class event.”

It will be NZ’s first WRC round since 2012, although it was a fixture on the calendar until 2008.

The course for the return event has not been announced, but Auckland will be the rally’s hub.

Kenya’s Safari Rally and a new event in Japan are the other additions to the 2020 series.

Japan has not had a WRC round for 10 years and its inclusion – with a new asphalt event around Nagoya as the season finale – is seen as catering to Toyota, which has been back in the championship for three years, as well as trying to entice other Japanese car manufacturers.

The Safari is a legendary event but has not been part of the WRC since 2002 and this year’s running of it as part of the African championship was largely seen as farcical with serious safety concerns.

Oliver Ciesla, managing director of the company WRC Promoter that runs the championship under the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s sanction, said the 2020 calendar was a “significant step” in the WRC’s growth.

“The return of Japan and Kenya provide a presence in the world’s largest two continents by size for the first time in more than two decades,” Ciesla said.

“The two continents are huge markets for the WRC.

“New Zealand has a long and successful WRC history and the return of its curving billiard-table smooth special stages near Auckland will be one of the year’s highlights.

“It is our desire to add to the calendar a certain proportion of change, especially to entertain the fans with new pictures and to bring rallying to where we know we have a fan base but know we can’t be permanently.”

2020 World Rally Championship calendar:
January 23-26 – Monte Carlo
February 13-16 – Sweden
March 12-15 – Mexico
April 16-19 – Chile
April 30-May 3 – Argentina
May 21-24 – Portugal
June 4-7 – Italy
July 16-19 – Kenya
August 6-9 – Finland
September 3-6 – New Zealand
September 24-27 – Turkey
October 15-18 – Germany
October 29-November 1 – Great Britain
November 19-22 – Japan