Canada is the latest country to confirm interest in pursuing a place on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar

The Rally Promoter Association of Canada today (Thursday) launched a five-year plan to bring the WRC to the country for the first time since 1979.

“We started looking at this idea in 2011,” said founding director Keith Morison. “Recently things have started coming together and we think this is the right time to put a real effort into making this idea a reality.”

The association will undertake initial investigations to establish the event foundations, supported by the Canadian Association of Rallysport, the sport’s governing body in the country.

“The next year will be spent meeting with a wide range of officials and potential partners to make sure this foundation exists. Once we understand where the support for the event is, we can then start fleshing out the details,” added Morison.

CARS president John Hall pledged his support to the association. “A WRC event is a huge undertaking and something that must be well thought out, well prepared, and engage a broad base from across the country if it is to have a chance of succeeding.

“I have complete faith that RPAC includes the right people with the right approach to bring a WRC event to Canada,” he said.

The WRC has visited Canada four times previously. Sandro Munari was victorious at the Rally of the Rideau Lakes in 1974, while the Criterium Quebec was won by Timo Salonen, Walter Röhrl and Björn Waldegård between 1977 and 1979.