Announced in late April, the 2011 WRC calendar was made public with a note stating that “a 14th event could be added to the calendar.” However, due to unnamed reasons, the FIA has decided to keep the initial number of events for next season.
“The FIA World Rally Championship calendar remains as ratified by the World Council in April 2010. There will be 13 events to allow the evolution of rallying worldwide, including the format of events and eligibility of cars,” said the statement.
More importantly though, starting next year, the WRC will have multiple tire suppliers, detaching itself from other FIA-ratified series such as Formula One, GP2 Series or FIA WTCC. Following Pirelli's confirmed involvement in F1 from 2011 onwards, the Italian tire maker will continue to supply some teams with WRC rubber, but its tender as a sole supplier will end following this year's Rally GB.
“From 2011, the sporting regulations will be amended to allow any tire manufacturer to supply tires. Regulations will be implemented to control costs. The amended regulations will be presented to the WMSC for a fax vote before 20 July 2010. The FIA Junior World Rally Championship will continue with a single tire supplier,” added the statement.
Another new rule imposed by the WMSC for the 2011 WRC, as well as other regional rally championships, was that the name of the co-driver will be included on the rear side windows of the competition cars.
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