Rallying: Portugal's postponed WRC round now cancelled

[April 30, 2020]    (Reuters) - The postponed Portuguese round of the world rally championship has now been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organisers said on Thursday.

Mikko Hirvonen of Finland competes in a Ford Focus RS during the third stage of the Portugal Rally WRC in Algarve May 30, 2010. REUTERS/Jose Manuel Rbeiro

Portugal would have been the fifth rally of the year on May 21-24.

The Automobile Club of Portugal (ACP) said in a statement it had tried to reschedule the event for the end of October without success.

"All health and safety conditions needed to run the... Rally de Portugal in a safe way are not achievable given the unpredictable situation that we live in these days, and also the uncertainty of opening the national borders or airspace," it added.

The ACP said the rally had an economic impact nationally of more than 142 million euros ($154.38 million) last year.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)

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