Route confirmed for the FIA World Rally Championship event. Three legs in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, with the Prologue in Prague. Tickets for individual days of the event are available now at centraleuropeanrally.eu.
The route for the Central European Rally has been confirmed – and that means that visitors can now purchase day tickets for the penultimate round of this season’s FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) from 26th to 29th October 2023. The organisers have been able to plan the route to such a degree that it is already possible to take a first look at the four days of rallying. Although ongoing approval procedures and detailed scheduling mean that the exact itinerary has yet to be made official, anticipation is rising ahead of the rally, which sees the best teams in the world battle it out for fractions of a second and valuable World Championship points. Now that key information has been finalised, fans from all over the world can begin planning their own personal routes to the rally. Day tickets for the Central European Rally cost between 35 Euro (Sunday) and 45 Euro (Friday and Saturday). Like the event tickets, they are available on the official homepage at centraleuropeanrally.eu.
Even before the penultimate round of this season’s WRC gets underway in the region bordering Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, the teams will be in town to check out what lies ahead: from Monday to Wednesday (23rd to 25th October), the Recce allows participants to inspect the rally routes. By Wednesday afternoon, (almost) all the stages will have been driven, notes meticulously made in the co-drivers pace notes, and it will be time to prepare the technology for battle: the engines will roar to life in Tittling, as the teams tackle the Shakedown in their competition cars. The three-kilometre route in the Dreiburgenland region to the north of Passau gives the drivers the opportunity to perform a final check in practical conditions, before they head to the Service Park at the Dreiländerhalle in Kohlbruck, a district in the south of the city of Passau. Admission is free to both the Shakedown and the Service Park. However, the cars do not remain overnight in Passau, as they set off on their j230-kilometre journey to Prague on the Wednesday evening.
Beginning with a bang: Start in Prague and Spectator Stage The Czech capital Prague provides the impressive backdrop for act one of the rally spectacle on Thursday afternoon. This is where the lights go green for the Central European Rally. The start ceremony and driver presentation take place in the heart of the Golden City, which is more than deserving of its status as a World Heritage site. From there, the cars head to the first short Super Special Stage, on which they will race against the clock for the first time that weekend. Tickets for this spectacular show will be available shortly. For all the other days of the rally, tickets can already be acquired online in the Ticket Shop. It will also be possible to purchase tickets for individual stages at the special stages themselves.
Longest leg of the rally on Friday in the Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is again showcased in all its beauty on day two of the rally, when the teams are put through their paces on seven stages in South Bohemia, with current plans featuring over 130 kilometres at full-throttle. Three stages will each be driven twice – on both the morning and the afternoon loop, with the order differing each time. The highlight of the day comes at the end of the first loop: the Super Special Stage in the Bohemian town of Klatovy. Here, spectator areas offer great views of the action, as the cars tackle two laps of the circuit. As they are for all stages, the organisers are already putting together plans for the fan zones, which will link the best rally action with a good infrastructure. The location of all spectator areas will be announced in good time ahead of the event. Another good reason to travel to Klatovy (the special tickets required for this stage are already available!) is the regrouping and the tyre change zone, to which the teams head after the nine kilometres of full-throttle action. The midday service takes place in the picturesque centre of the small Czech town. From there, they return to the same stages as they tackled in the morning.
Rally action on the right and left banks of the Danube on SaturdayTwo loops, each consisting of three special stages, are scheduled for the Saturday of the Central European Rally, guaranteeing more than 100 kilometres of action-packed motorsport. The first sporting challenge awaits just outside the city gates of Passau, in the Schärdinger Innviertel quarter. It is just a quick hop across the river Inn to the 16-kilometre stage to the east of the ‘city of three rivers’, in the region to the northwest of Münzkirchen in Austria. The Mühltal stage is also located in Austria. At 27 kilometres, the route between Kollerschlag, Oepping, Sarleinsbach and Peilstein im Mühlviertel is the longest of the whole event. The loop then draws to a close on the German side of the border: the “Knaus Tabbert Bayerischer Wald” special stage will take place between Neureichenau in Bavaria and the Austrian municipality of Schwarzenberg am Böhmerwald, in close proximity to the three-border region.
Sunday: “Furious finale” with a compact leg and the Power StageThe final kilometres at full-throttle will also be in Germany and Austria. The two loops, each consisting of two stages, feature roughly 70 kilometres against the clock, during which the competitors will again put pedal to metal in their quest for glory. The Böhmerwald stage in Austria will provide 17 kilometres of action in the region between Julbach, Nebelberg and Ulrichsberg in the Mühlviertel region. Sunday afternoon’s final stage, Passauer Land, takes place in the Breitenberg area. This 16-kilometre route also forms the Power Stage, on which valuable – and perhaps decisive – bonus points are up for grabs. The podium ceremony then takes place in front of the town hall in the heart of Passau, close to the point where the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers converge.