Rally France Moves to Alsace-Vosges

The French motorsport federation, Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile (FFSA) decided last night on the new course for the Rally France, starting 2010. As a consequence, the French Rally will be based in the Alsace-Vosges region until 2012, instead of the Tour de Corse, which has been France's WRC home since 1973.

The French round will also be moved from May, when it was scheduled until now, to October. The mainland course will bring WRC some 150 miles from Trier, the city where Germany's Rally is based.

According to Autosport, the move from the island of Corsica to the mainland France was a result of the need for the rally to be held closer to more populated areas. Heavily backed by WRC promoter International Sportsworld Communicators, the move was voted unanimously by the FFSA.

Alsace-Vosges, home of the six-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb, won the honor of hosting the French WRC after competing with Limousin, Burgundy and, of course, Corsica, with the first two being disregarded earlier this month.

Tour de Corse, known as the "ten thousands turn rally" due to the high concentration of curbs provided by the surrounding mountains, is currently being run only around Ajaccio, an asphalt roads. It was one of the founding rounds and has missed only one round in the 36 years of existence, in 1996, as a result of the rotational policy.

The new course, so far never included in the WRC, has the advantage of being located relatively close to large urban areas, with Strasbourg the larger and closest one.