Ahead of the first competitive stage of Secto Rally Finland, Round 9 of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship, stakeholders from across motor sport and the wider mobility landscape spent the day in Jyväskylä focused on a collaborative future for sustainability.

With topics ranging from the innovations needed to be able to broadcast such a vast sport as the WRC, to the latest projects to deploy new energies such as hydrogen into integrated transportation systems here in Finland’s fifth largest city, one of the consistent themes throughout the day was the need for strong communication. This was identified as a key factor both between stakeholders, and also to the wider public to show more clearly that the drive for innovation not only doesn’t compromise, but in fact can often contribute to more exciting and engaging competition.

Sara Mariani, Director of Sustainability, Diversity and Inclusion spoke about the FIA’s approach towards sustainability in motor sport and presented the federation’s latest roadmap for the future. “We have a mission and responsibility towards broader society, Mariani said. “We have identified areas that we want to focus on in sustainability, specifically on our carbon impact as that is where we can make the biggest positive change. Advocacy is also crucial, and we have the power to gather the data to inform the decisions of policy makers.”

As the global motor sport and mobility federation, the FIA brings together both a huge international community of sports fans and representa the interests of over 80 million motorists around the world. Mariani highlighted the great potential and opportunity this presents, adding, “We want to be better at how we tie things together and leverage the massive experience we have within the FIA, the years of experience, bringing that together for a consistent message that can be better understood by people on the outside.”

Turning specifically to the WRC at the occasion of this historic event, Mariani pointed at the fantastic example already being set at the pinnacle of road sport, saying, “Rally has been ahead of the game as far as our FIA Environmental Accreditation Programme is concerned, and it is really driving change in a concrete way through things like the introduction of sustainable fuels.

“Now we are working on understanding the impact of our activities on biodiversity, which is particularly relevant when you think about rallying. Through this work we want to come together to establish ways that we can make a positive impact through our activities. We want to further leverage the innovation that we are making from the stage or the track to the road.”

The Forum then turned to a discussion on safety in the FIA World Rally Championship as another key pillar in the broader sustainability agenda of motor sport. The FIA World Rally Championship Safety Delegate and legendary rally driver Michèle Mouton emphasised the central position safety considerations take in the activities of the FIA, commenting, “We don’t compromise with safety, it’s priority number one for the FIA, for all the stakeholders in the sport, and it needs to be for the spectators as well.

“For me it was important, when I was a driver there was no safety at all and that is the experience I come from. I’ve been working with FIA for 15 years, and when the opportunity came up to work on the safety side I wanted to take on that challenge.”

With a core focus of the Spark the Future forum being forward-looking, Mouton also spoke about what further developments are under consideration with regards to the WRC. “Without safety our sport simply could not survive,” she added. “The future of watching rallying is to make the spectator zones clearly marked, so that we can be sure that everyone is watching from a safe place and make it easier for the spectators to know where the can and cannot go. Virtual chicanes that we see here in Finland for the first time are also going to be hugely important, and we are also looking at cameras that will be fixed in the cars that can scan in real time the presence of people on the side of the road using artificial intelligence. This will give us a very powerful tool for the future.”

With a powerful combination of technical innovation, clear communication and safety as an unyielding principle, the Spark the Future Sustainability Forum marked another positive step forward for the FIA World Rally Championship as a global leader setting out a pathway for a safer, more sustainable future.