S1T Becomes Timing & Tracking Supplier to World Rally Championship

February 21, 2012

British firm Stage 1 Technology (S1T) has agreed terms with the FIA to supply timing, tracking and results systems to the World Rally Championship for the remainder of the 2012 season.

This is the first major agreement for the World Rally Championship since the series promoter North One Sport went into administration last month.

Contracts were signed on Friday afternoon, with the new agreement starting from next month’s Rally Mexico (March 8-11) and maintaining a partnership which has been running since 2001.

“This is great news,” said Stage 1 Technology managing director Simon de Banke. “Everybody’s had quite a stressful start to the season, so to get this deal across the line in what is an exceptionally short space of time is a fair reflection on how much everybody wants it to work. I would like to pay tribute to the speed and ability with which everybody in the FIA has worked to expedite this. And for their foresight and support of the championship in taking the leadership to get our systems back online.”

The agreement has not only guaranteed the supply of the purpose-built WRC timing, results and tracking systems, but it also safeguards the 20 jobs of the dedicated and expert workforce of Stage 1 Technology and associated companies.

For the first time this season, S1T is providing timing to the millisecond for the qualifying and powerstage elements of the WRC.

Former world champion Petter Solberg had called for a quick agreement after running without complete coverage of the tracking system on the Monte Carlo Rally.

“This is about safety, it’s that simple,” said Solberg. “When we are going into the stage, we have to know that the teams know where we are going to be. We need the plane, the [S1T] system and we need the FIA to have the safety helicopter everywhere.

“We’ve been without this system for one rally and we can’t go back to that, this needs to stay now, for sure. It’s too much of a risk for the WRC to be without these kind of systems.”

S1T will return to business as usual on Rally Mexico next month.

by Ismail Uddin