Rally Australia organisers want a place on the WRC calendar every year from 2012, ending the arrangement where they alternate hosting annually with New Zealand.
Australia will stage the 10th leg of this year’s championship in September and organisers are confident of winning a place on the 2012 calendar despite not appearing on the draft version of next season’s schedule.
“Speculation about the 2012 WRC calendar is certainly premature, with the World Motor Sport Council having deferred its decision until the end of this month,” Rally Australia chairman Ben Rainsford said on the event’s website (www.rallyaustralia.com).
“While planning for the 2011 Rally Australia … we are also in active negotiations about 2012 and an annual place on the WRC calendar.”
Perth hosted a round of the world championship from 1989 to 2006 before it was scrapped for financial reasons and the series returned to Australia in 2009.
That return in Northern Rivers was seriously disrupted by environmental protestors, who threw rocks at drivers causing the cancellation of two stages, and this year’s event will be hosted around the Eastern coastal resort of Coffs Harbour.
“Rally Australia’s move to a new home on the Coffs Coast of New South Wales has received an overwhelming welcome from the local population, businesses and authorities,” Rainsford added.
“We are assured of staging a sporting spectacle next September that more than justifies our place on the WRC calendar into the future.
“We now need the continuity of an annual event in 2012 and beyond to capitalise on the greater opportunities available in our new East Coast home to grow the event and the WRC’s following in this region of the world.”
Reuters