When the 2024 calendar was revealed, the presence of Poland, even for one season, had come as a surprise. The last WRC event in 2017 had not left a good memory regarding spectator behavior. A special stage had been cancelled due to the poor seating of some and the country had acquired a bad reputation. It had not appeared in the WRC schedule again until this year and immediately doubts reappeared. The editions organized in the ERC had gone well, but they had attracted a smaller audience. For the 80e anniversary, it was clear from Wednesday that the event would be followed by a considerable crowd. To be sure, all you had to do was be on the roads leading to the shakedown on Thursday morning. The lines of cars were endless and reading the license plates showed that rally enthusiasts from neighboring countries had also made the trip. At the end of this final driving session, pilots were already pointing out the dangerousness of certain locations. The various videos published by spectators also confirmed that all the lessons of the past had not been learned and that the messages concerning safety were struggling to do their job.
This unfortunately proved to be the case again during Friday qualifying. While the organizers had repeated before the event that the 30-minute rule had to be respected (beyond that, no one is allowed to move), the progress of certain sections proved that the path that remains to be to accomplish to avoid certain stupid behaviors is still a long way to go. Some fans wait for the safety cars to pass and position themselves at the edge of the SS at the last moment. However, the cameras on board Rally1 and Rally2 allow them to be seen and after a few competitors, this leads to the interruption of the special. It’s usually the work of a very small number of people who deprive the vast majority of the public who pay to see the specials.
In addition to spoiling part of the spectacle, this has an impact on the progress of the race, because the canceled sections give rise to fixed times. In Poland, Andreas Mikkelsen only completed one full special on Friday afternoon and yet it is he who leads the rally before the final superspecial. While the first stage is practically completed, the organizers have not yet made a decision regarding the measures that could be applied on Saturday and Sunday to prevent this type of inconvenience from happening again. What seems certain, however, is that Poland did not score points to one day return to the WRC.
