We all know that Lebanon is facing a lot of financial difficulties and rally sponsoring is not one of the easiest things. At the last edition of ROL 2011 we saw an amazing 42 car entries in the rally but most drivers were suffering from sponsors. Many of the top drivers in Lebanon still finance their selves in order to compete and many new talents are finding it difficult to start rallying due to financial reasons.
In Europe most young drivers start rallying in 1600 cc cars. Such cars cost much lower than other cars and still have performance levels that are suitable for competition. Importing the culture of 1600 cars to our Lebanese championship would help us see more entries and more competition at lower costs. This would reflect very positively to sponsors and will be tempted to sponsor more drivers. Such a step would help us spot amazing new talents and the spotlight would be shed on them so progress into higher categories and faster cars.
In 2011 the season saw the participation of 3 1600 cars. The cars were relatively old and not prepared on the levels found now in Europe. Although there were only 3 cars, we saw some competition between drivers who are not amateurs, but yet are rallying for the fun of it.
Many would argue against our point but the Lebanese government should support such a step by decreasing importing taxes on 1600cc rally cars in order to support the sport. This step will also encourage more people to leave street racing and move into a form of rewarding competition.
On their part ATCL has always supported the 1600 cc championship by allocating points for and it and officially using it. ATCL could also promote this category much more by decreasing its participation fees so more people with lower budget would participate.
In a very successful 2011 Lebanese rally season the presence of 1600 cars was a bit shy. Looking into the future this might be one of the steps that will help in more progress for the sport in addition to more sponsoring.