The rallies scheduled for the 2013 World Rally Championship refused to meet a deadline of last Friday to sign a Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile contract ensuring their participation in the championship and handing over their television rights for centralised distribution.
Event sources told motorsport news website Autosport they had not been given enough time to discuss the proposals. The FIA, motorsport’s world governing body, issued the contract to all rallies on May 28. The rallies were warned they could be taken off the 2013 calendar if the documents were not returned by Friday, June 8. None of the rallies have yet signed the contract, according to Autosport.
Rally organisers are also unhappy about a £80,000 fee (€99,000/$124,000) included in the contract that it was proposed each event would pay towards television production and distribution, and rally tracking and timing systems.
The issue is on the agenda at this Friday’s meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, the FIA’s executive body.
The WRC has not had a permanent production and distribution partner since the FIA terminated North One Sport’s deal before the start of the 2012 season after claiming the agency had breached its contract.