According to the organizer of the competition, the decision is intended to respect the requests of the reindeer herders in the area. The Swedish World Rally Championship will run on 24-27. February. The second race of the World Rally Championship season will be closely monitored on ‘s channels.
The reason given is that the reindeer herd in the area cannot be safely transferred to another pasture due to the prevailing snow and weather conditions. According to the release, the competition schedule will be specified later.
– We have turned all the rocks to find a solution, but due to the current snow situation, we can only change the distances (to the reindeer herd), the event’s CEO Glenn Olsson says in a press release.
Olsson states that moving reindeer herds is a difficult and complex process. Organizers should respect the requests of reindeer herders to postpone the rally, he continues.
The 20.49-kilometer special stage in Örträsk was scheduled to run twice on Saturday, February 26, so the race will be shortened by more than 40 kilometers.
The Swedish World Rally Championship is the only winter rally in the series. Toyota, third in the World Series Kalle Rovanperä plow the road in Sweden, for Sebastienit Loeb and Ogier do not participate in the competition. Toyota’s third car driver will add more Finnish color to the race Esapekka Laplandwhich opens its term in Sweden.
Rovanperä is one of the rally favorites. In the Rovaniemi World Rally Championship, which was driven in snowy conditions a year ago, Rovanperä placed second. Two years ago in Sweden, a Finn grabbed the first podium place in his career.