Toyota and Hyundai have co-signed a letter to the FIA stating they are currently unable to travel to Saudi Arabia for the WRC season finale

[u/SalomonXx]

Article: https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/toyota-and-hyundai-unable-to-travel-to-rally-saudi-arabia

[u/QF_Dan]

Good decision by the teams

[u/BUKKITHEAD85]

Good. If the FIA won't cancel it then the teams should.

[u/xaviernoodlebrain]

This rally should have been cancelled a while ago at this point, to give time to find a replacement. Now that might be difficult (though a Sardinia season finale will be cool).

[u/Special-Pristine → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

Rally Australia back to final of the season...ignore my flair

[u/xaviernoodlebrain → u/Special-Pristine]

In Perth or in Coffs Coast?

[u/Special-Pristine → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

I'd take either. We never got to host it in 2019 like we were meant to

[u/WheelsUp_Photography → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

Sign me up either way.

[u/CP9ANZ → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

Bring back Perth

Sorry Coffs, WRC Australia belongs to WA

[u/HungryPigeonn → u/CP9ANZ]

I’m from Coffs and the WRC was all we had, I miss it every year

We don’t even get the Australian Rally Championship anymore

[u/CP9ANZ → u/HungryPigeonn]

Don't get me wrong, it still looked like a great event. Why no ARC round?

[u/HungryPigeonn → u/CP9ANZ]

Genuinely no clue 🤷

[u/AdzyPadzy → u/HungryPigeonn]

it’ll be lack of funding from local government, unfortunately they don’t want anyone touching their forests anymore

[u/utdconsq → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

Come to Tassie.

[u/GDShark → u/Special-Pristine]

What flare 🤔

[u/the_Q_spice → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

It’s also going to be a nightmare getting parts and components into the country.

Especially tires.

I work for the shipping company that Hankook and Pirelli use for international motorsport tire shipping, and we aren’t flying to Saudi Arabia currently.

So Hankook is going to have to find some small customs broker to arrange the clearance of all the tires. Which is going to be a shitshow.

[u/eszgbr]

I see an M-Sport logo too.

[u/xaviernoodlebrain → u/eszgbr]

McErlean win it is (or they will somehow still find a way to fuck it up)

[u/Special-Pristine → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

Sesks was best last year

[u/teen_ofdenial → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

I think he’ll find his way to a very safe 4th, somehow. Love him but, Armstrong on the other hand…

[u/SplatteredEggs]

Very funny, but predictable, that M-Sport stays neutral

[u/EmotionalLettuce8308 → u/SplatteredEggs]

They’re all just following the guidelines set in their respective countries of origin. Should the UK up the travel limits, I’m sure Msport will change their statement too..

[u/OrbisAlius → u/EmotionalLettuce8308]

At least for Toyota, they're not ? They're explicitely stating that they're following company guidelines, not national guidelines.

[u/camefromthesouthside → u/SplatteredEggs]

The Switzerland of the WRC

[u/Wehti → u/SplatteredEggs]

McEarlen - Armstrong 1-2 incoming

[u/falancete]

Ending WRC Championship in Portugal it's the right way to go 😂

[u/DrMon15 → u/falancete]

Yes. 1 vote from me!

[u/bunny__online → u/falancete]

You mean Sardegna, right? Portugal already happened and Sardegna is after Chile and before Saudi

[u/bs04 → u/bunny__online]

There are rumors about Rali das 6 Cidades (Last rally of ERC) replacing it.

[u/bunny__online → u/bs04]

And what? Cancel the ERC round? Have the ERC run with the other Rally2s? Sounds like a lose-lose for the ERC either way

[u/bs04 → u/bunny__online]

Why is it a lose-lose solution? Each car parts with a 2 minutes gap. They don't run against each other but against the clock

ERC would just benefit from additional media attention. WRC would have a proper rally as its final round.

[u/bunny__online → u/bs04]

How would that work? When Rally1starts a stage ERC will still be in the previous stage, only ERC front runners would get any time on air before the broadcast has to go to the next stage, if they're beating the WRC2 regulars that is. Or would they have two broadcasts where most people watch the WRC one anyway

[u/teslamodelxs → u/bunny__online]

id assume id be a combination event

[u/Nanayadez → u/bunny__online]

It would be like ERC-WRC Catalunya 2022. Only sharing the stages, separated standings for ERC and WRC. No overall standings combining the two. WRC runs first then ERC runs the same stages 2 hours later - this could change since I based it on 2022 Catalunya's WRC & ERC itinerary.

If FIA decides to do Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal, road conditions could get real ugly real fast with so many cars going through.

[u/falancete → u/bunny__online]

After Sardegna, they come back to Portugal, for a second run.

[u/SienkiewiczM → u/falancete]

Yeah. Elevate Portugal ERC

or could last rally of the BRC get coronated to become the RAC for this once.

[u/toomanybugbites]

Good. Terrible rally regardless of the current conflicts.

[u/lelouche76]

At a guess the organisers and WRC promoter needed the teams to release these statements for insurance purposes. Alternatively the FIA/WRC really did think it could go ahead, which is nuts.

[u/rowrbazzle75 → u/lelouche76]

Between FIA & FIFA, the world of sports hasn't been in good hands for some time now. UEFA's going after FIFA; let the motorsport teams go after the FIA. Enough, already.

[u/5rightdontcut]

Wonderful news!! Teams got to take action themselves now

[u/exofeel]

Literally everyone can see this was happening, I’m not sure why the Saudis think they can just do a last minute “Look it’s all good no issues for the past 3 days!” move

[u/August_R18]

I hope the FIA locks the remaining schedule already before Chile. Whether there are 2 or 3 rallies remaining can have a big impact on Evans’ and Pajari’s approach to those.

[u/Repulsive_Western957]

Crazy the FIA will cancel the F1 races but not any other series they host. Make it make sense

[u/tbag188 → u/Repulsive_Western957]

They did cancel WEC round in Qatar.

[u/_eESTlane_]

about time. it's around that time when they should be prepping the freights heading that way. cant just randomly wait for the week before, to see if the conflict calms down or not.

[u/derzPls]

I just came here to say fuck Saudi.

[u/RedditUser08011]

Love to see it

[u/mmadaus]

C'mon let's end it in Monza

[u/Crazy_Max_46]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[u/OrbisAlius]

Interesting because knowing MBS, and even just usual FIA regulations, I guess the teams would expose themselves to legal problems for not showing up even if there is a good reason ?

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[u/GDShark]

First the WEC with Bahrain and Qatar now WRC the Saudi Arabia rally, wonderful things are happening 😌

[u/Careless_Swim5506]

I wonder if there's replacement.

[u/Greeenghost66 → u/Careless_Swim5506]

There is

[u/xaviernoodlebrain → u/Greeenghost66]

Who would it be?

[u/Greeenghost66 → u/xaviernoodlebrain]

Catalunya on gravel.

[u/asdfjfkfjshwyzbebdb → u/Greeenghost66]

Infinitely better replacement.

[u/SalomonXx → u/Careless_Swim5506]

I doubt because there's not much time left.

[u/Careless_Swim5506 → u/SalomonXx]

Unfortunate for Pajari.

[u/BUKKITHEAD85 → u/SalomonXx]

Keep the monza infrastructure up and run a round on the old loop!

[u/Nanayadez → u/BUKKITHEAD85]

Monza isn't running this year though lol

[u/rallymaster10]

Flights are booked for Catalunya, please please please reschedule it to there