The FIA European Rally Championship promoter has informed the Azores Rallye Organising Committee that the race is not part of its plans for the 2023 season.
The justification given by the WRC Promoter was that their intention is to make the championship more central, to reduce the cost to the teams.
Despite the efforts of the Azores Rallye Organising Committee to ensure free sea and air transportation for the teams, the teams still consider that the tie-up is too long when compared to other races of the championship, according to the promoter.
We deeply regret this decision, which we did not foresee, since all federative entities praised the event, including the WRC Promoter, who presented to the Azores Rallye Organising Committee a proposal to continue the rally in 2023 and 2024, which was being negotiated.
We will continue to work on next year’s edition, the fifty-seventh, in order to guarantee, together with our partners, an event with the quality that it is renowned for, hoping, in the future, to once again be part of the top European rally competition.