The accident which cost the life of codriver Flavio Guglielmini cast a pall over Rally Bulgaria and delayed an accurate prediction of the outcome of the official inspection of this rally’s capability of running an event up to WRC standards in 2010. An urgent decision is required as alternative plans to select a replacement event will have to be made if a favourable inspection is not forthcoming. Was the rally good enough? The promoters of Rally Bulgaria are under no illusions about the enormity of the task of running a rally in the world championship, and have quietly been listening and watching and copying good ideas from elsewhere. One impressive function on the Wednesday before the rally was the invitation to leading Bulgarian drivers to the centre of Sofia for a doughnut driving display in the courtyard in front of the nation’s Parliament buildings. That was fun!

Dimitar Agura, the rally’s general manager, explained that entrance charges to spectator were helping to pay for the rally. This was new to Bulgaria. A three day pass cost 18 leva, about 8 pounds sterling, full VIP treatment was 100 leva, 45 pounds. Agura said that the budget for running a WRC event would be 2m Euros, including the cost of running a superspecial stage. When the Sunday stages were cancelled, this must have been a major blow to the organisers. The reaction of the organisers to the accident will be scrutineered closely by the FIA. And even if every procedure was according to the requirements, the enormous jump in scale of operation in every other aspect of the event from ERC regional level to world level will be huge. Clearly stages in extra areas must be found before a full three day event can be held, and colossal extra facilities which the WRC demands must be arranged. As Piero Sodano, the FIA’s chief inspector, said “Even if everything is fine this year, harder work will begin for next year..”

3mmm