Vila Real mayor: “The WTCR event is at risk”

Rui Santos, the major of Vila Real, has stated that the continuation of its street race it at risk due lack of support and increasing demands on the local organisers.

“First of all, I want to thank to all the people that have worked so hard to organise this event for so many years, they’ve done a huge effort to have the race again after two years out,” Santos said. “We are probably the smallest organisers putting together a WTCR event.”

The street circuit has a long racing tradition, dating back to 1931, hosting its first international sports car event in the late 1950s.

The track featured on the WTCC calendar from 2015 to 2017, and the WTCR from 2018. The 2020 and 2021 races were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

“We have made a huge effort for many years, and even more now, returning to the calendar after two years out because of the COVID, but we have to reconsider our continuity,” Santos told TouringCarTimes.

“The financial effort is also very big and, at the moment, we are on our own with it. We receive no money from the European funds, nor government, nor the tourism organisations, and we also have little to no help from FPAK (Portuguese ASN).

“We have the biggest racing event in Portugal, how can they (FPAK) be so passive? Why don’t they do anything?” added Santos.

“Unlike what happened until 2013 with Porto, we get no money from the central government, nor have any warranty that they will in the future. This is a huge contrast with Portimao, for example, who receives help from the government.

“I’m not asking to get the same money as Formula 1 or MotoGP, but something proportional, like back in 2015 and 2016, which allowed us to reinforce the barriers, have better safety and more alternative roads.”

Santos expressed concern after visiting the Pau-Ville season opener earlier this year for discussions with Eurosport regarding the Vila Real WTCR event.

“Even from Eurosport there needs to be a big change,” added Santos.

“We talked to Eurosport and told them that we wanted to improve on what we had from 2019, to get more every year, but we feel that what we have now is the same than before. We were at Pau at the beginning of the championship, we have talked many times, and we always hear that it will get better, but it doesn’t. And, if for next year things don’t improve, the race is at risk.”

Officials at Vila Real stated to TouringCarTimes that the spectator attendance during the WTCR weekend this year exceeded 200,000 people.

“We have the biggest and most popular event in the WTCR calendar, no other race has the spectators, the scenery and the atmosphere that we have,” said the Vila Real major.

“We’ve been talking to other people and many are interested in working with us. There is a real possibility we can have DTM next year, and there are other promoters, such as Stepháne Ratel, with Jesús Pareja (GT Open), so we have alternatives to have good races at Vila Real.

“But any international competition that comes to Vila Real would have to have a Portuguese driver racing,” added Santos in reference to WTCR driver Tiago Monteiro’s fan base in the region.

The WTCR organisers stated that its ambition is to find a solution to continue its cooperation with the Vila Real organisation.

“The situation is not easy, but we continue working with everyone and we hope to reach a solution soon,” WTCR Jean-Baptiste Ley said.