Last season, most WRC rounds followed the familiar schedule running continuously from Thursday to Sunday. However, the ongoing evolution of top-tier rallying demands fresh approaches to scheduling, efficiency, and overall event pacing.
Rally Estonia successfully trialled a much more compact format where the core competition was condensed into approximately 50 hours. While the total competitive distance remained at the standard 300 kilometres, the schedule was restructured to allow competitors to arrive in the host city of Tartu later than previous years.
Under this revised timetable, the recce was shifted to Wednesday and Thursday, with the shakedown taking place on Friday morning. Six demanding stages followed during the afternoon and evening, complete with a strategic tyre change in between sessions.
Strict FIA regulations mandating a rest period of at least ten hours between competition days meant Saturday’s action kicked off slightly later than usual. Even with the adjusted start, Saturday’s itinerary packed in nine intense stages that concluded late into the evening.
On Sunday, the 24.39-kilometre Kaariku stage was run twice, with the opening stage getting underway at 11 am—roughly two and a half hours later than the start time seen on the final day of the Acropolis Rally Greece. This condensed layout was feasible because the stages were located considerably closer to the service park than at many traditional rallies.
Emilia Abel, director of the FIA Road Sport department, emphasized that the ultimate goal is to progressively increase the number of events utilizing this streamlined format. "I would say that it’s a bit early to ask this question because organisers are obliged to submit their itineraries six months in advance. So it’s a bit early to say anything about the second half of the calendar," Emilia Abel stated.
Despite the current planning constraints, the FIA and the championship promoter have established a clear target to transition roughly 25 percent of events to the new format by 2027, followed by further increases in 2028. At the same time, authorities remain completely open to reviewing any alternative proposals for format changes on a case-by-case basis to protect the best interests of the championship.
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