Each rally is different – quick chat with FIA ERC promoter

Between super stages of Rally Hungary we met with Iain Cambell – FIA ERC promotor – and asked him what does he expect from Rally Silesia.

Iain, its lovely to see you around here at Rally Hungary! Obviously you’ve been to the previous edition of Rally Silesia, is there anything that comes up to your mind that left particularly good impression on you? Any thing or a moment?

Well of course it left a good impression because now you are part of the championship in 2024! It was a tough rally, the stages were very different from anything that we’ve seen before on an asphalt. The stages going through the villages, towns, a lot of junctions, jumps and broken tarmac, it’s a multidimensional rally so we expected it to be a good challenge. Other asphalt rallies we have are different – with Canary Islands almost like a race track, very smooth, Zlín we know is in the trees and heavily forested, Wales is a new event to us and that’s a different kind of tarmac as well. So, each one is difficult and different, and you very much are going to bring something unique to us at the end of the season.

Is there something that you’d particularly like to see in the new edition? It’s the grand finale, so maybe you expect something specific?

Well, we hope we’ll be hosting all the champions at your round, and everything will come down to a very tight battle. There are so many fans coming to the stage at the city centre, and then, what got me was actually the passion of the Polish fans. We know how much you love rally and rally is a whole part of your heritage. I think you’ve got the oldest championships or the oldest rallies and we know that that’s what you’re going to bring to the championship. What we want to bring is all the excitement and all the superstars to bring the real competition.

It’s the perfect combination I guess!

It will be! And you know just to finish off the season in October and then to celebrate on Monday night with the awards – I’m sure this will be a fantastic weekend.

Last question, tarmac or gravel?

You see, I’m from the UK so it’s always gravel isn’t it? Cause that’s what rallying has been brought up for us. But, with being lucky going round the ERC now for the last two years, you really see the challenge that each surface brings. But also, each round brings something different. I mean, here for the opening round in Hungary we don’t have gravel stages like this anywhere else within the championship. And as I said previously, each tarmac round is bringing something new, something different. In October we could have lovely sunshine in Poland, in Wales it could be 7-8 degrees with occasional showers, and that just brings a whole new aspect into the rally as well. So if I have to choose something between tarmac and gravel, I’ll just say good competition is what I prefer.