Our site published an article about Kari Nuutinen, the deputy clerk of the course and route manager of Rally Finland. It stated that the organisers of the Swedish WRC round were considering a competition for next year where the special stages would be run only once.
In current WRC events, most stages are run twice – once in the morning loop and again in the afternoon following the service break. This approach helps organisers save on costs, and spectators may not need to move from one special stage to another if they want to watch two stages in one day.
Information about the Swedes’ intentions came from the latest issue of the Finnish magazine Vauhdin Maailma, which featured an article about Timo Rautiainen, the WRC Sporting Delegate at the FIA.
“The organiser of the Rally Sweden called after their event and asked if they could hold a rally where the special stages would only be run once. I told him that not only could they do this, but it would also be advisable,” Rautiainen was quoted in the article.
The story published by RallyJournal.com eventually caught the eye of the Rally Sweden organisers. The rally organisation’s route manager, Joakim Åström, contacted our editorial team to correct the information.
“The person who called Timo does not belong to the official organisation, so there must have been some misunderstanding between that person and Timo,” Åström explained to RallyJournal.com.
“There are no such plans in the organisation,” Åström emphasised.
According to Åström, it would be interesting to organise a WRC round where each special stage is run only once. But in practice, such a competition is utopian.
“It would be financially impossible to drive only one lap per SS, as we have costs for landowner permits, plowing, etc. It would also have an increased impact on reindeer husbandry. In addition, it would require even more volunteers to work for the rally,” Åström said.
In Sweden, planning has already begun for the 2025 WRC winter rally. Åström mentioned that the competition is expected to include two or three new special stages, and the total route length will be around 300 SS kilometers.
More freedom in route planning is being granted for next season’s WRC events, as so-called remote services make a return.
“We haven’t made any decisions about remote service; it depends on how the overall route planning turns out. However, the goal is to achieve a compact rally,” Åström stated.
Rally Sweden has been held in the vicinity of Umeå since 2022.
