The virtual chicane was placed on the legendary Ouninpohja special stage in Finland. The system had already been trialled during a test special stage at the Rally Latvia.
The system did not receive an enthusiastic reception from the drivers. They were also concerned about safety, as the information about reducing speed came at a point where the driver could not properly see it. The co-driver could monitor it better, but even their concentration was momentarily distracted by it.
In addition to this, the system had other issues.
“One thing we can confirm is the chicane is not accurate, it’s not accurate at all,” Sebastien Ogier told to Dirtfish.
Ogier had a suggestion on how the system could be improved. The Finnish Rally Championship has experimented a couple of times with a more traditional radar system.
“I think they need to reconsider to go to a speed gun, a real radar, in the stage. Like it’s used in Finland, I heard, and that’s accurate. Like the police is using, you know? Because this GPS signal is not accurate.”
According to Ogier, the current GPS-based system is a failure from the start.
“You brake, you brake, and you just wait that this stupid signal is activating the things.”
In Finland, a traditional radar system has indeed been used in the Finnish Rally Championship. It’s not a new system.
“This came into the rules, I believe, back in 2019 when the alternative to the traditional chicane was introduced, including the deceleration zone and the so-called stopping area,” AKK sporting executive for rally Henrik Frank told Rallyjournal.com.
“At that time, however, the term ‘virtual chicane’ wasn’t used; that only came later,” Frank recalled.
According to Frank, the initiative for this came from the drivers.
“The issue was raised by the drivers in the Finnish Championship series at the time, after a rally where the deceleration bales had caused some damage to the cars. And for example, the bumpers on a Rally2 car are quite expensive. Of course, we were also thinking about the organisers, as those bales are quite expensive and their logistics for the stages are rather difficult,” Frank explained.
A radar-based virtual chicane has been used this season at the Turku in Finnish Rally Championship. It was also supposed to be used in Tuuri, but in the end, it was abandoned.
“It worked quite well in Turku. We didn’t receive any negative feedback from the drivers,” Frank reported.
However, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) is not in favour of radar. It intends to stick with its GPS-based system in the future, despite the criticism and issues.
“Our GPS-based system was chosen for its ability to instantly monitor vehicle speed in real-time, ensuring precise and immediate enforcement,” said Xavier Mestelan-Pinon, FIA chief technical and safety officer to Dirtfish.
