WRC First peek of 2007 calendar

[Yeo]

Today the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship calendar was approved by the World Motor Sport Council and the first item noticed was that the racing calendar will stay on the January to December format.

A welcome surprised after the stir that was caused in October 2005 per their statement at that time: "The 2007 season will be made up of eight or nine rallies run from January to May. The World Champion for each of the titles will be known at the end of that period. The 2008 season will be run over two calendar years, beginning in August 2007 and ending in May 2008."

Alas, as with many things in the world of motor sports, changes should be expected. And indeed, that was proven with today's announcement. Again the calendar shows 16 events, however that too can still change. The World Championship Commission can still decide to add further events at the next meeting as long as the missing 2006 events: Cyprus, Turkey and Australia submit their proposal(s).

And to further complicate matters for 2007, the three countries, South Africa, Poland and Jordan, who lost out on their bids for 2007 are not out of the running to yet be placed on the calendar. They too are on the list of consideration when the council meets again.

Rally Monte-Carlo will again open the season on the icy, snowy roads in the mountains of Monaco on January 19-21. Followed a few weeks later by more cold, snow and ice in Sweden. And to add to their wintry competition, Norway's bid was accepted and Rally Norway slides as the third event on the 2007 calendar to be held in mid-February.

"At last we have succeeded. This is fantastic news for sports fans as well as service and tourist businesses in Norway. We expect at least 100,000 spectators from Norway and abroad. It will be the largest public event in Norway since the Olympic Games in 1994," said Rally Norway's managing director, Even Wiger.

The teams return to the only event on North America soil -- Rally Mexico, March 9-11. And for expecting to see Rally de Espana in Catalunya on the March calendar, that event has been bounced into October. And the April Tour de Corse rally has moved to October as well.

The third new 2007 rally bid came from Portugal who will return to the WRC calendar on March 30th for their three day event. After Portugal, Argentina, Sardinia, Greece, Finland and Germany hosts their tradition dates.

Rally New Zealand moved from November to September and Japan bounced from the first of September to end of October and along with the aforementioned ones that moved into October, the final third of the calendar has a new look.

Ireland won their bid to host a WRC event, the date they landed was November 16 thru 18, 2007 -- making them the penultimate rally for the 2007 championship fight. There is room to squeeze another rally between Ireland and Rally of Great Britain -- the traditional finale event retained its position -- but filling the date between the two would be highly unlikely due to logistics.

The tentative 2007 WRC Calendar:

2007 World Rally Championship calendar
19-21 January Rallye Monte-Carlo

09-11 February Swedish Rally
16-18 February Rally Norway

09-11 March Rally Mexico

30 March-01 April Rally de Portugal

04-06 May Rally Argentina
18-20 May Rally Italia-Sardinia

01-03 June Acropolis Rally of Greece

03-05 August Rally Finland
17-19 August Rallye Deutschland
31 August-02 Sept. Rally New Zealand

05-07 October Tour de Corse
12-14 October Rallye de Espana (Catalunya)
26-28 October Rally Japan

16-18 November Rally Ireland

30 Nov.-02 December Rally Great Britain

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=224238
_________________
www.ttonline.org