Rally Croatia may
have only hosted 2 WRC rallies, but it has soon become a fan favorite, as both
of the 2021 and 2022 editions are considered modern classics with the rally win
being decided in the power stage on each occasion.
Kalle Rovanpera
and Jonne Halttunen celebrate their 2022 Rally Croatia win after beating Ott
Tanak in the power stage
With the first full
tarmac round of the 2023 World Rally Championship looming in the horizon (ok
let’s be honest 2nd, Monte was really dry), we decided to give you a
retrospective to the other, rather forgotten tarmac WRC Rally that was held in the Balkan
Peninsula, Rally Bulgaria.
Our story begins in 2008,
when a bulgarian party inquired about the possibility of a Bulgarian Grand Prix
with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. The 2 sides also met in Germany after the 2009
German Grand Prix in Nurburgring to discuss a potential 10 year deal (!) with
the circuit rumored to be built in the town of Pleven.
The layout of the
unbuilt circuit
These talks didn’t
amass to anything though, and the Bulgarians quickly turned to a cheaper and
more feasible solution, Rallying. Rally Bulgaria had been part of the European
Rally Championship since 1972 and was considered an important part of the
championship, being given a higher coefficient (point multiplier) back when the
ERC had wayyyyy too many rallies.
Simon Jean Joseph on
his way to a 2nd place finish on the 2007 edition of the rally
So the rally
organisers met up with the promoter and set up the 2009 version of the rally to
also be a candidate event for the 2010 WRC calendar. Back then the WRC was in a
bit of a pickle, as it was hit hard by the economic crisis. Subaru and Suzuki
left, leaving the sport with only 2 manufacturers, Citroen and Ford. The calendar
was also impacted, with the 2009 calendar featuring 12 rounds, 3 less than
2008, with the FIA imposing a round rotation system so that more countries
could host rallies. That meant that rallies like Monte Carlo, Sweden, Corsica,
Germany, New Zealand didn’t feature on that year’s calendar. What it was
essentially, was that if you had money for a candidate event, you were likely
to get a place in the WRC calendar.
Rally Monte Carlo
was part of the IRC in its 3 year absence due to the rotation system
Back to Bulgaria and
it’s candidate rally now. The rally was the 5th round of the ERC
calendar and was won by Giandomenico Basso in a Fiat Abarth Punto S2000. But
the rally was marked by the death of Italian co-driver Flavio Guglielmini who
sadly passed away when the Peugeot 207 S2000 he was co-piloting crashed heavily
on Stage 7 of the rally.
Picture of the
2009 Service Area
Somehow, Rally Bulgaria
was still featured on the 2010 WRC Calendar ahead of the likes of Acropolis,
Argentina and Sardegna, who were all rumored candidates after the fatality in
the candidate event. WRC Commission head Morrie Chandler, deciding that Rally
Bulgaria had met the required standard for a WRC Rally with its candidate
event.
Sebastien Loeb on
course to win the 2010 event
The 2010 event was
held in the ski resort of Borovets, near the capital, Sofia featuring roads
that were according to some reminiscent of Rally Catalunya or Barum Rally Zlin.
In my opinion it’s similar roads to Croatia, only wider, with more flow and
without crests.
The rally was a walk
in the park for Sebastien Loeb and Citroen as the French manufacturer recorded an astonishing 1-2-3-4 with Sebastien Loeb leading Dani Sordo, Petter Solberg and
Sebastien Ogier, it was only the second 1-2-3-4 ever in WRC’s history after Toyota
locked out the four places in Safari 1993.
Sebastien Loeb had
a 51 point lead after Bulgaria
As for the rest, Kimi
Raikkonen crashed out from 4th on the 4th stage of the
rally. All the Ford drivers struggled, with Mikko Hirvonen finishing 3 minutes
behind Loeb, and teammate Jari Matti Latvala closer to Hungarian privateer
Frigyes Turan in an old Peugeot 307, than the winner. In JWRC, Thierry Neuville
won the rally in a C2 S1600 and finished 12th overall, beating
future WRC privateer Dennis Kuipers who drove a Fiesta S2000.
The aftermath of
Kimi Raikkonen’s off link to the video here
After the finish of
the rally, it was evident that Bulgaria wouldn’t host another WRC event with
M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson saying: “From the stages point of view there’s
no complaints from that side or the sporting side but I really find it
difficult to think this is the right place to have a world championship event.”
The rally failed to
attract a lot of fans and the roads felt average at best, especially compared
to the rallies it was chosen over. The rally was dropped for the 2011 calendar
and hasn’t featured since, returning to the ERC, until 2012 when it was dropped
from that too.
Local driver
Dimitar Iliev was the last winner of Rally Bulgaria in the ERC
Nowadays, Rally Bulgaria has made a return,
being added to the 2023 European Rally Trophy Calendar (if you want to know
more about the ERT click this link)
Luckily Rally Croatia
has more drama on the stages rather than outside of it and I am sure that all
of you, like me, are looking forward to it !
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