WRC season 2019 review

The 2019 season introduced a new rally, but a whole round was cancelled along many individual stages. Some events remained as they were, while a few revamped their routes. Stages kept becoming shorter, whereas speeds became sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Cover photo by Richard Simpson / Flickr (C).

Rally Finland Route History II:1982-1987

Finnish gravel roads and Group B cars – what a combination. In these years the 1000 Lakes Rally route headed mostly South-West from Jyväskylä. It introduced its first night breaks, but still included long and tough days of driving. The stages were short but there were a high number of them, with a few double […]

Route Preview: Rally Australia 2019

Rally Australia could have been one of the fastest gravel rallies of the season. The 2019 event had to be cancelled because of raging bushfires. This route preview is retained for future reference. Rally Australia was first introduced to the WRC in 1989. It became soon known for its Langley Park twin-car super special and […]

Rally Finland Route History I: 1973-1981

Rally Finland or 1000 Lakes Rally has always been based in Jyväskylä, but its route has stretched towards various parts of Finland throughout the decades. Stages have come and gone, sometimes altering their route and changing their title. This is an attempt to put all this together. In this blog post series I’m going to […]

Route Preview: Rally Catalunya 2019

Rally Catalunya is the only mixed surface rally of the season. It offers smooth flowing tarmac resembling racing circuits as well as sandy and technical gravel roads. For this year the route has remained almost unchanged from last year, with a new power stage.

2020 WRC Calendar Thoughts

The 2020 WRC calendar was published today. There are more changes than we’ve used to seeing in the past years. Here’s a summary of how the characteristics of the season will change

Route Preview: Wales Rally GB 2019

Wales Rally GB is driven on fast and muddy forest roads which were used decades ago in the Welsh leg of the RAC Rally, thus continuing its heritage. This year’s route is essentially a combination of the three past years with a couple of new parts. RAC Rally was known for its long route which […]

Which classic stages will we see in Rally Finland 2020?

2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the Finnish WRC event. On such anniversaries it has been a tradition to add classic stages from the past. We should expect to see some historic touches on next year’s route as well, but which classic stages would suit the current cars and how should they be modified?

Route Preview: Rally Turkey 2019

Rally Turkey is the slowest and roughest event of the WRC season. Last year the rally returned onto the calendar in a new location. For this year the route is only slightly tweaked. Rally Turkey has featured in three locations during its WRC history. The rough and slow events from 2003 to 2008 were driven […]

Route Preview: Rally Deutschland 2019

Rally Deutschland is a tarmac rally with many unique characters. It’s often called “three rallies in one”, but is it really? Meanwhile, the route has changed only slightly from last year. Let’s take a closer look. Rally Deutschland is based at the lake Bostalsee, Western Germany. It is one of the youngest WRC events, having […]