Is the Central European Rally still in tune with the times?

Originally, the idea was attractive. By bringing together three organizers of different nationalities, it was possible to authorize visits to three playgrounds. This allowed Germany to return without necessarily having to do everything on its own, it brought Austria back into the elite after 51 years of absence and above all it brought the Czech Republic into the elite without having to take on everything. The recipe was tempting until it was necessary to establish the program and the route. Once the cards were out and the calculations were done, the good idea suddenly turned into a headache. Is it unfair or presumptuous to trial an event when its first edition has not even taken place yet? Perhaps the CER will be a huge success and impose a new way of conceiving world championship meetings? The first comments from the drivers after reading the route and the points of view from the teams before making the trip were not at all positive. It's quite the opposite. It must be said that when the CER was imagined, all authorities ensured that the WRC was doing wonderfully, even though the situation was already critical. While the development of this rally was launched, voices began to be heard calling for change. The FIA ​​and the promoter ended up ensuring that measures would be taken, that the format would be reviewed. In these circumstances, is it not regrettable not to have taken advantage of this new arrival to try to introduce these famous “measures”? Ultimately, it is quite the opposite that will happen and the CER is completely against the grain of what the WRC seems to want to go towards and what the stakeholders want, that is to say an event shortened in time and in the space.

A sleeve that has already gone out of fashion?

In the 1690,67 km that the rally offers, only 310,01 will be completed against the clock with 18 special stages. For more than 1300 km, the competitors will therefore do liaison work which serves no purpose (or very little) in promoting the WRC. Is this still acceptable today? The difficulty in satisfying all parties is that we had to extend the timing by one day to be sure to pass in front of Pražský hrad, Prague Castle. The WRC2 crews will carry out their test on Sunday instead of Monday. The reconnaissance will be spread over 3 days (Monday to Wednesday) before a shakedown on Wednesday afternoon. He intervenes early to allow everyone to return to the Czech capital, 220 km away, on trucks. The greatest aberration is to do this to carry out the starting ceremony as well as 2 SS not even representing 12 km (SS1 and SS2) or 6 or 7 minutes of racing in addition to an endless connection to return to Passau... In the official speeches, the term “ sustainability » is very often highlighted. In this context, it would not be serious to mention the hybrid which only concerns 10 Rally1s out of 68 competitors and which is used over so few kilometers that it is preferable not to talk about it. In WRC, this famous “sustainability” is mainly obtained with the emission-free gasoline which is consumed by racing cars. If they will appear “clean”, what can we say about the hundreds of fans and the cars of the followers? Does holding a rally on such a large area still correspond to current prerogatives in terms of the environment? The CER is already on the 2024 calendar (31/10-3/11), but we will have to see what lessons have been learned from the first edition. The promoter ensures that certain iconic rounds (e.g. Monte-Carlo) will be able to retain their specificity. Will this new round fit into this framework? The course of next week will provide the first answers.