Rallye International du Valais proposed as Tour de Corse replacement

In a short statement, Eurosport Events commented on the news concerning Tour de Corse, which was supposed to be a final event in this year’s Europan Rally Championship calendar. The Corsica based event will serve as a French round of the WRC this year, so ERC had to come up with an alternative, which they did. Many sources suggested that Rallye International du Valais could be named as a replacement and that’s exactly what happened. Or rather, it did not happen yet because Eurosport Events’ proposal needs to be approved by the FIA Rally Commission.

From official EE statement: “Since the Tour de Corse was dropped from the FIA World Rally Championship in 2008, Eurosport Events has worked with the local organising body, the ASACC, during the last four years to maintain the international status of Tour de Corse and save this famous rally. It worked successfully with the Tour de Corse organisers, arranging live television coverage on three occasions and reviving the rally to an international-level contest, with current Hyundai factory WRC driver Thierry Neuville scoring a breakthrough victory in Corsica in 2011 live on Eurosport. Eurosport Events is pleased to see that its efforts and significant investment made over the last four years have not been in vain and that it has helped Tour de Corse return to the pinnacle of rallying.”

The story did not go without a bit of controversy, of course, so the statement ended with a mention of the “financial situation between the ASACC (the local organizers) and Eurosport Events regarding the 2014 event” as still “not settled”. Please tell me there will be no unpaid bills dragging behind this event, I think that’s the last thing we need.

Off topic: How awesome is this photo, featuring Romain Dumas on 2014 Tour de Corse. That’s right, very awesome.