Rally of Wales 2003 Cancelled

06 March 2003

The Rally of Wales, first leg of the British Rally Championship due to be run on 22-23 March, has been cancelled. Only 25 entries had been received and with the prospect of only seven more, the organisers concluded that the financial loss in running the event would be crippling.

"The entire organising team are devastated at having to cancel the event so late in the day. Unfortunately the event has not had a title sponsor for the past two years, and as such, we are dependent on receiving a high number of entries to make the event a success in financial terms. Unfortunately the cancellation of the 2001 Rally of Wales due to the Foot and Mouth epidemic also hit us hard financially, and we were not able to sustain such a loss again," Press Officer Jamie Edwards commented.

Ian Coomber, chairman of BRC Licensing Limited (BRCL), the organiser and promoter of the Pirelli British Rally Championship (PBRC), shared this dismay, "We understand that the Rally of Wales has been cancelled principally because of a lack of entries in the supporting national events, not the International one.

"Shortly after the formation of BRCL in January this year, we heard rumours that the Rally of Wales was at risk. We immediately contacted the organising committee, and were assured that the event would go ahead as planned. Members of the BRCL board have been in contact with the event organisers throughout this week, but unfortunately it is now too late to take the steps that could, and should, have saved it.

"The other remaining rounds of the Championship are not at risk, and Championship registrations for 2003 look set to exceed those of last year. Following the successful PBRC Live event last weekend, to say that BRCL is disappointed would be a massive understatement."

The rally organisers maintain that they would still have lost a five-figure sum of money even if they had adopted the suggested measures, which included cutting the route from two days to one and doing away with the planned recce.

See series calendar for British Rally Championship 2003