Storms cause cancellation of 2016 Rally China
This year's 2016 Rally China, originally the 10th round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship season, has been cancelled due to weather damage in the Huairou region.
Event organiser LeSport and the Federation of Automobile and Motorcycle Sports of China cited heavy damage caused by recent torrential storms and flooding around the Huairou region, near Beijing where next month’s Rally China was to be staged.
A visit from FIA and WRC representatives to the region last week led organisers to decide that it would be impossible to get necessary repairs completed in time for the event, which had been scheduled to run from 8th to 11th September.
As a result, a formal request was handed in which the 2016 Rally China is cancelled for this year.
The Huairou region in North China recently suffered some of its worst floods in years, leading to people being evacuated people from their homes, prompting authorities to take ongoing emergency measures.
According to CAMF and LeSport, the weather left some special stage sections requiring major work in which the region’s Road Administration Authority confirmed would not be completed in time before Rally China had begun.
The event was to have been the first WRC Rally China since 1999 when Didier Auriol won the rally for Toyota.
Following the cancellation, the calendar for the 2016 WRC season goes down to 13 Rounds.
As scheduled, the event's final stage was to have been beneath the Great Wall of China.
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