China Rally hopes to win FIA stamp for 1999 World Championship

The 555 Hong Kong to Beijing Rally which will be staged for the last time in October this year, will be replaced by a new event next year which organisers hope will have World Rally Championship status within two or three years.

To be staged north of Beijing and using the Great Wall as an historical backdrop, the new China Rally is slated for October next year with an alternate date in July also proposed.

Officials from the Hong Kong Automobile Association and the Confederation of Automobile Sport of the People's Republic of China began looking at sites in March this year and have earmarked an area that will feature between 400-420 kilometres of special stages over three days.

'We are reluctant to be specific about the exact site of the rally at this stage until we have satisfied officials from the Rally Commission of the FIA [international motorsports' governing body],' chief executive officer of the HKAA, Kendy Chan said yesterday.

Chan was in Beijing last week where he spoke with the president of the FIA's Rally Commission, Guy Goutard from France.

Goutard inspected the site and spent time briefing Chinese mainland officials on the latest FIA rules and regulations. Further FIA lectures are planned between now and the staging of the event.