An interesting article on rallying ran recently in the famous pink La Gazzetta dello Sport – which remains the third-best-selling daily newspaper in Italy, despite it not having much to report on at present. This story covered a plan to save the domestic rally championship in a European country among the worst hit by the coronavirus.

Closer to home, the Scottish and Irish rally championships have already been cancelled, while the British Rally Championship is hanging on for now, although just one of its six planned events has been held.

So the Italian story provides interesting reading, because rallying’s peripatetic nature makes it potentially an even greater risk in terms of disease transmission than circuit racing (which is a big enough headache as it is right now).

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Essentially, what the Italians are thinking of doing is converting their championship into a series of single-venue events at race tracks all over Italy, which are considerably easier to control than hundreds of miles of rally stages.

The proposal could mean that rallies start again as early as June and run until such a time that it’s judged safe to return to the stages. Almost every driver will be very familiar with single-venue rallies, because this is how most of them cut their teeth.

By starting on Saturday and finishing on Sunday, the Italians reckon they can get between 50 and 70 stage kilometres (31-43 miles) out of each event.

1 Monza rally show

They’ve certainly had lots of practice. The well-established Monza Rally Show is probably the biggest single-venue rally in the world, having in the past attracted stars including Colin McRae, Sébastien Loeb and multiple-event-winner Valentino Rossi.