John Naylor on European Historic Rallying

In a recent interview, incoming Historic Motor Sport Commission President John Naylor was asked how the FIA will promote the European Historic Rally Championship to enable it to grow in the next few years?

“2021 is not the year to think about growth, although I am all for growth.” said Naylor.  “At the moment we have to make sure the existing events are supported and run within the COVID-19 protocols.  We need to get to the end of the pandemic, with everyone getting vaccinations, then we can start to think how we are going to grow the championship.  Having said that, even under these difficult circumstances, we received entries from new competitors ahead of the first rally in Italy, which is another good sign that we are going in the right direction.”

“The FIA is also being proactive, providing the organisers and competitors with new tools for registering, we are looking at attracting more media coverage and more video features on each of the rallies across the website and social media channels, making the championship more visible.  All these things go towards making the EHRC more popular, which in turn brings more competitors.”

“One of the other things we are looking to include is another gravel rally on the calendar, not for this year or, maybe not even for 2022, but for the mid-term.  This would help grow the status of the championship.”