Landing in León last month reminded everyone in the World Rally Championship just how much Rally México had been missed.
There’ll likely be a similar feeling of realization when the service park is erected in Concepción this September, too, for Rally Chile.
COVID-19 had its way, but now the WRC is back in the Americas and hopefully there to stay.
And the net could even be widened. The prospect of the USA joining the calendar as early as next year is very real and has been met with plenty of excitement – even if there is equally plenty of debate about there being just two calendar slots from 14 reserved for the Americas.
If the USA is in (which it is expected to be), then México will be back out again given Chile has a multi-year deal.
The game of musical chairs isn’t just reserved for drivers and teams, it seems!
But there’s a forgotten player currently warming the bench – a player with more caps than any of the rest.
Rally Argentina.
This month marks four years since the likes of Mina Clavero and El Cóndor featured in the WRC.
For many, that’s four years too long.
With all of the talk at the moment about the American events, where does Argentina fit into the picture?
“We’re still in discussion,” WRC Promoter event director Simon Larkin told DirtFish.
“Even next year our ambition is for a 14-round calendar. Almost all of those slots are already spoken for, but we all know what’s happened over the last few years – you always need to keep a couple of options in your pocket, you never know what might happen.
“Doors are opened with a number of markets. I think Argentina is like México. I think the WRC has missed both those events, it just never was logistically possible with the way things were in planning for 2023 to include Chile, Argentina and México in one logistic sweep with the way we’re set up at the moment.
“That’s unfortunate, we’re clear about that.
“Even now the logistics market and timelines are softening considerably week on week on week, things are looking better even for the second half of this year.
“Argentina always brought something very special to the championship, it has a huge history in the championship. The passion of the fans is like here [México].
“There’s not many major events in the entire world that get the number of fans that we get in Rally Argentina and it would be great to bring that back.
“However, we can’t deny that the economic situation in Argentina is extremely difficult. Even getting money out of the country is a political and logistical challenge.
“But it’s something we’re in discussions about with the government in Argentina and with potential event regions.”
Argentina may need to settle for a place on the bench for a little while longer. But while it’s on the bench, the possibility of a substitution can never be discounted.
