SATURDAY’S night stage proved a major talking point in the Rally Australia but it is not about to be ditched, says chairman Ben Rainsford.Several drivers throughout the weekend vented their frustration at the inclusion of a 7.94km stage in the dark through Valla, with both Sebastien Ogier and Kris Meeke making further comments on Sunday’s podium.
“Maybe forget the nights — that was not such a good idea,” said Ogier after sealing his third world title.
But Rainsford is adamant the well-attended night stage is an essential for boosting the rally’s appeal.“It’s a directive that we will go and have more wow factor inside our event and you saw (the response from) the crowd,” he said.
“This is the World Rally Championship, it’s not going to get awarded because someone can drive down a straight piece of road. If you look at the old days, they would drive all night and all day so perhaps a bit of that excitement needs to come back.”
Rainsford also fended off claims the stage was dangerous, noting it had been given the all clear by international officials.
There could, however, be a switch back to the stadium style stage seen in 2014.
“We will go straight to work to see if we can find a location for a super special stage,” Rainsford said, adding the right venue had to properly showcase the cars and be well designed for spectators.
Ott Tanak races through dust on the SS12 night stage. Source: News Corp Australia
The other potential change for the 2016 Coffs Harbour event is a later date — possibly in November.
“We have pushed very hard to be the last round next year and it would appear that is a real probability. That will get confirmed by the World Motorsport Council meeting (on September 30).”
The timing of this year’s rally saw it clash with both the NRL and AFL finals series as well as V8 Supercars’ traditional Bathurst lead-in race, the Sandown 500.
Rainsford said he was a “little bit confident”, having made a strong case to replace Wales as the championship finale.
“The Australian summer is a beautiful place to be compared to the European winter and we’d like the extra visitation with crews and their families coming and staying afterwards.”