Philippe Soulet (CFR Coordinator): “Everything is ready to restart”

How do you approach this relaunch after such a long period of inactivity?

First of all, being in contact with the various organizers, I can assure you that we are all looking forward to starting again. Unfortunately, some had to give up (Lyon-Charbonnières, Rouergue and Vosges Grand-Est. Editor's note), but everything is ready to restart at Mont-Blanc. As for the competitors, everyone wants to ride. This bodes well, the state of mind is clearly positive. With these five rallies coming, we will have a six-race championship, I think we will have saved the season.

What about the famous health protocol?

We are working on this subject with the federal doctor. In any case, we were waiting for the announcements on July 10, to find out whether the state of health emergency is extended or not. Today, our protocol includes barrier gestures, physical distancing measures, etc. We can easily adapt. We had already anticipated a little during Le Touquet with measures that we now find in other championships. In particular, we canceled the press conference, broadcast on social networks. We didn't have a podium either. This type of measure can be applied without great difficulty. We will see what will be asked of us in September.

What do you know about welcoming the public?

For the moment, we are relying on the rule of 5000 people. But we're not really concerned since we don't have that many in a service park. Afterwards, we must expect that measures will be taken. There will certainly be, for example, protections around the podium. However, we can be quite optimistic that the rallies will go well.

Do you have any fears about stopping certain programs?

I was expecting a small drop in the number of participants, but it seems that there is a resurgence of interest. Certain regional rallies are clearly full (see Ah n°2266. Editor's note) and there was already demand for Mont-Blanc even though the regulations had not yet been published and registrations were not open. Concerning the Land component, the Terre de Lozère recorded around fifty registrants from the first days.

They are almost complete today. Because of the mileage or even the organization, people always find it interesting to ride in the French Championship. We should be able to count until the end on those who had already completed their program this year. It may be complicated for amateurs who will have to look for additional budgets. Above all, we must prepare for a 2021 season that is likely to be delicate. The budgets will be validated in September, it will undoubtedly be harder.

According to you, the rally will it be more or less impacted than circuit racing?

It is complicated for me to answer this question. We also have many gentlemen drivers, business leaders and amateurs who invest a large part of their savings in rallying. The situation is not easy for anyone and it is up to us to work with the organizers to try to find solutions and ideas to reduce costs. This may concern the organizational plan, the running, etc.

Concerning the reshuffle of the 2020 calendar, have you considered promoting 2nd division events to complete the program?

No. We had to deal with the loss of three rallies: Lyon-Charbonnières, Rouergue then Vosges, which worked a lot to postpone, but which unfortunately came up against infrastructure problems and the prefecture. Either way, we didn't want to overload the schedule. We did not want to end up with nine tests from the start of the school year, which would have been absurd. We managed to reschedule the Antibes Rally (October 16-18, Editor's note) to offer a coherent end to the season and so that the organizer – who invested a lot in this rally – could go to the end.

For 2021, are you thinking of helping in one way or another the organizers of the rallies canceled in 2020?

One thing is certain: the rallies present on the 2020 calendar will be present in 2021. There will be no questioning on this point. It was important to them. I am thinking of an event like the Rouergue, which did not want to take any financial risks: it is preferable that they have the assurance of being there next year. They can therefore already work to prepare for the upcoming edition.

What about the Junior championship?

The cost for this series is lower and we have deliberately kept the same car for the fourth consecutive year: the Fiesta R2. At Le Touquet, we had fifteen competitors supposed to compete in the season. We should find them at Terre de Lozère. We are trying to add an additional event to bring the number of rounds on the program to five.