The WRC event director, Simon Larkin, reveals that next year's calendar is getting close to be published with United Kingdom missing out the chance to return in World Rally Championship.
More specifically, the organizers of Rally Great Britain were working on returning their event to the World Rally Championship in 2023 and were looking for a new place to host their rally. Nothern Ireland was among their options to host a WRC event next year, but eventually this will not happen as it was difficult to secure a government funding.
The last time that UK held a WRC event was back in 2019 when Wales was the hosted country.
However, Germany and Middle East have expressed their interest to come back in World Rally Championship while the organizers of Rally Mexico announced that their rally will be at next season's WRC calendar.
In addition to that, Ypres Rally Belgium is likely to be absent from 2023 as there is a possibility to be at European Rally Championship.
So far, it is known that Monte Carlo, Kenya, Greece and Sweden will be for sure at World Rally Championship while New Zealand and Japan are working on extending their deals with WRC Promoter.
"The UK round won’t be happening in 2023," Larkin said.
"Of course it is very critical market.
"The effort that Bobby Willis has put in create what would be a very exciting event in Northern Ireland, and it is very attractive to us, and we will continue to do everything we can to help him and make it happen.
"We have far more options that we have slots.
"We think we are going to be able to choose the best events that work for everyone sportingly and marketing-wise and logistically, which is a good problem to have.
"We want to keep Ypres within our families of championships.
"We would like to keep it in the ERC, so we have the ability to maybe occasionally come into the WRC".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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