The 2023 European Rally Championship calendar has been unveiled, including an all-new summer event in Sweden.
Next year’s eight-round series begins with Rally de Fafe in early March before a trip to the Canary Islands for Rally Islas Canarias.
The fast gravel roads of Poland and Latvia stage rounds three and four before the all-new Royal Rally of Scandinavia in Sweden hosts round five in July.
Based in Värmland where Sweden’s World Rally Championship counter has traditionally always been held before its move north to Umeå this year, Royal Rally of Scandinavia will incorporate classic Rally Sweden stages, but on gravel not snow and ice given the time of year.
But that’s nothing new with 2020’s Lockdown Rally being won by Oliver and Pernilla Solberg out of Torsby in June, while the challenging Midnight Sun Rally ran through Sweden in June between 1950 and 1964.
Rally di Roma and Barum Rally Zlín both remain on the schedule, while Rally Hungary returns after a one-year suspension in 2022.
Across the season, there will be an equal 50/50 split between gravel and asphalt with four rallies on the loose and four held on Tarmac.
Rally Azores, a staple of the ERC and formerly the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, has been dropped, but that has already been known since September when the event organizer issued a statement to confirm the rally would not be on the calendar.
2023 European Rally Championship calendar:
Rally de Fafe March 11-12
Rally Islas Canarias May 5-6
Rally Poland May 20-21
Rally Liepāja June 17-18
Royal Rally of Scandinavia July 7-8
Rally di Roma July 29-30
Barum Rally Zlín August 19-20
Rally Hungary October 7-8
