Report: No changes to WRC calendar for 2013
Another set of unofficial information just made it’s way from the offices of FIA and WRC and onto the pages of Autosport, concerning the 2013 season calendar.
Report suggests FIA will not introduce new events next year, meaning rounds in both South America and Africa (namely, Brazil and South Africa) can only hope for 2014 slots, if any. Meanwhile, it seems few organizers from the current calendar actually signed controversial new contract for 2013.
Autosport’s article suggests WRC will again visit 13 countries next year and only change compared to 2012 will be rotation of Australia and New Zealand. I guess that does make some cost-cutting sense, although it’s not particularly nice to swap one iconic event with another. Would running them back-to-back make any sense given the distance from Europe and high costs of shipping the team to either of those countries?
With regards to the controversial 100.000 euro calendar for 2013, Autosport claims 10 out of 13 events refused to sign and will discuss the matter further with the FIA later this month. Hopefully new promoter announcement, scheduled to take place this Friday, will help in bridging the gaps, and soon.
Finally, it seems the meeting between the holy trinity (Jean Todt, president of the FIA; Jarmo Mahonen, president of WRC commision and Michele Mouton, WRC manager) will bring few other ideas to the board, and this week’s WMSC meeting could hopefully answer some burning questions regarding the future of the sport.
