The Portuguese race of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) will remain on the calendar next year following the signing of a contract between the Automóvel Club de Portugal (ACP) and the World Championship promoter, which includes an option for 2025.
The continuity of the Portuguese rally in the WRC was confirmed this Sunday with the formalization of a contract between Carlos Barbosa, president of the ACP, and Jona Siebel, director general of the WRC promoter. The agreement also includes an option for the 2025 season, which will be exercised at the World Council of the International Automobile Federation in September next year.
“The signing of this contract demonstrates the confidence that the WRC promoter has in the organization and is a recognition of the effort we have put into organizing one of the reference rallies on the World Cup calendar,” emphasized Carlos Barbosa, chairman of the ACP. in a statement. .
This confirms Portugal’s 44th presence in the world’s elite rallies.
First held in 1967, the Portugal Rally was part of the group of events that established the World Rally Championship in 1973, the year in which it was the third race on the calendar, alongside other emblematic events such as Monte Carlo, Sweden, Safari (Kenya) or Finland. Over the next 29 years, Portugal became one of the most popular rallies on the calendar, officially considered the best rally in the world five times. A hiatus between 2002 and 2006 was broken with the first “world” edition in the Algarve in 2007. The ACP race has been running continuously in the WRC since 2009.
The Rally of Portugal had an economic impact of 153.7 million euros in 2022, according to a study by the University of Algarve.
Source: DN
