According to Jyväskylä World Rally Championship Director Kai Tarkiainen, preventing the Russians from competing could lead to the race being closed from the World Series.
Before the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä, the participation of Russians in the competition has been talked about a lot. Russia is currently waging war against Ukraine. In many sports, Russians are excluded from competitive activities, but in individual sports, Russians have been seen competing even without national emblems.
Three Russians are participating in the Jyväskylä World Cup Rally: Nikolai Grjazin and his map reader Konstantin Alexandrov and as a driver Vitaly Antonov. Grjazin and Aleksandrov compete in the WRC2 class. Antonov is in the RC5 class.
– In international rallies and motorsport events (International Automobile Federation), the FIA gets to decide who drives. Currently, we do not accept registrations, but the FIA sends a list of who is coming to us. The national sports association AKK already decided in March that Russians and Belarusians will not be allowed to participate in car racing events in Finland, Tarkiainen reminded at the beginning of his speech.
According to Tarkiainen, the race organizers can’t do anything about the participation of Russian drivers.
– Maybe we could have prevented it and said that you are not coming. We might have been sanctioned. I have been able to hear rumors from the world when things have been discussed somewhere. It has been announced quite directly that you can watch the work elsewhere and this rally is no longer included in this series, Tarkiainen stated.
In Finland, the matter has stirred up especially because in the previous World Cup rally in Estonia, Russians were not allowed to compete.
Then the Estonian Ministry of the Interior denied Grjazin and Aleksandrov entry.
– There was no government there on summer vacation at that time, so they made a decision, Tarkiainen concluded.
Russian and Belarusian drivers have driven in international rally competitions without national emblems.
– They have written a commitment to the FIA, in which they basically deny their own existence. It’s a pretty tight paper with their names underneath. Historical emblems, such as double-headed eagles, have also been discussed in the commitment. In competitions, Russians drive without flag numbers in cars and so on, Tarkiainen stated.
Secto Automotive, one of the main sponsors of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship, previously published its position on the Russians’ competition. According to the company, Russians should not drive in Finland. According to Secto, the situation is extremely embarrassing for the company. The Secto logo is not seen on the car of the Russian competitors.
After Secto’s announcement, the Jyväskylä World Rally Organization also published its own announcement. The World Cup rally organization said that the rally organizer AKK Sports Finland does not allow the use of the national flags of Russia and Belarus in the competition. The line now also applied to the public.
Earlier on Tuesday, Tarkiainen told Jyväskylä that he has been worried and angry about Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
– In that sense, it’s also unfortunate that there are messages and they slowly start to be directed at a person and they would be more or less to blame for the whole war. After all, this is what it’s like if you’ve settled for this kind of position, Tarkiainen said.
The competition director has not received any actual threats.
– Let’s say that there have been nasty messages, Tarkiainen stated.
The most famous of the Russian subcontractors are Grjazin and Aleksandronov. They won the WRC2 class in Sardinia and were eighth in the final results of the competition. He took fourth place in the WRC2 class in Croatia and third place in Monte Carlo. Grjazin was tenth in the final results in both races.