Rally Sweden director Erik Åström hopes the event can work together with the Sámi villages in the future, who called for several stages to be canceled in 2025 due to their proximity to reindeer herds.
The Sámi communities appealed for SS9/12 Vännäs, SS15/18 Umeå and SS16/17 Västervik to be called off, feeling the rally was disrupting reindeer husbandry by running through those areas.
There remained the threat of any stage being canceled if reindeer and rally cars were to cross paths, but in the end only minor itinerary tweaks were made.
The first pass of Umeå on Saturday evening was changed to be a third pass of Umeå Sprint, which ran on both Thursday and Friday.
The second pass of Umeå, which acted as the powerstage, did run as intended, albeit with the start location moved forward by 0.9 miles.
The reasoning for both decisions was officially “for safety reasons”, but DirtFish understands it was linked to reindeer locations.
Åström thanked the Sámi villages for their cooperation throughout the event.
He told DirtFish: “I have a really good dialogue with a lot of Sámi villages and big thanks to all of them, I really appreciate the conversations we had. I think we have started something we can build on for the future, so I’m really grateful and big thanks to them.”
Asked directly if he feels the rally can now work together with the Sámi people, Åström said: “I hope so.
“I mean I’m responsible for the dialogue with them, so if any head should roll it’s mine, not them. So I will give a big shout out to them.”
Åström was also keen to acknowledge the entire Rally Sweden organizing team.
“Yeah, I think we hit the ball out of the park this time – really, really happy,” he said. “I couldn’t be more happy. It was handled really well. Big thanks to the Rally Sweden team – I think they proved that they are the best in the world.
“It couldn’t be any better – the drivers put on a hell of a show,” Åström added. “The weather, the conditions, everything was like a match in heaven.”
