2014 European Championship calendar is out, no room for the weak links
The new, Eurosport Events promoted European Rally Champioship got of to a stellar start this year, but it was also a year of learning and weeding out the weak(er) stuff to make room for improvements. The format of the series is quite solid and there were some very well known events in it this year, but for the 2014 season European Rally Championship is going to evolve into even stronger rally competition. Several events are out and couple of new ones are in. At this point I should probably correct myself because ERC did not just go all “you’re fired” on the removed events, for example, Rally Poland said “see ya” because it’s going to join the big bros back at the World Rally Championship, but for most part ERC got rid of either mediocre events or the ones not able to financially sustain themselves and be up to standards.
Cool and effective concept and I am certain it will work as it should. The media coverage is here, even though ERC could still use some improvements, mainly in getting the events and the series out to the mainstream media channels more, and I mean all media not “just” TV. But, that’s more of a rally in general problem than it’s about ERC in particular.
So, who’s in and who’s out – only one way to find out. Check out the cally (whoa!) below and if you still thirst for more info, point your pointer (sheesh!) to this baby and read on.
FIA European Rally Championship 2014 provisional calendar*
01: 31 Int. Jännerrallye, Oberösterreich (Austria), Asphalt/snow, 3-5 January 2014
02: Rally Liepāja (Latvia), Gravel/snow, 31 January-2 February 2014
03: Sibiu Rally Romania, Gravel/snow, 27 February-1 March 2014
04: Acropolis Rally (Greece), Asphalt/gravel, 28-30 March 2014
05: Circuit of Ireland Rally (United Kingdom), Asphalt, 17-19 April 2014
06: 49th SATA Rallye Açores (Portugal), Gravel, 15-17 May 2014
07: Geko Ypres Rally (Belgium), Asphalt, 19-21 June 2014
08: auto24 Rally Estonia (Estonia), Gravel, 17-19 July 2014
09: Barum Czech Rally Zlín (Czech Republic), Asphalt, 29-31 August 2014
10: Cyprus Rally (Cyprus), Asphalt/gravel, 19-21 September 2014
11: Rallye International du Valais (Switzerland), Asphalt/gravel, 23-25 October 2014
12: Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse (France), Asphalt, 6-8 November 2014**
*Subject to ratification by the FIA World Motor Sport Council
**Subject to the signing of the event promoter agreement
