As the World Rally Championship prepares for Rally Finland, which begins this evening, it’s all looking quite rosy for the sport all of a sudden.

The Finnish event has become the first to secure a permanent place on the WRC calendar, which means that the idea of a strictly rotational calendar has been dropped. Which is good, because Rally Finland clearly shouldn’t be sacrificed for Rally Bulgaria or whatever every other year. That would be mental. It’s also good because it means the sport’s new worldwide promoter, ISC, is doing its job.

Good news too from the remaining manufacturers in the sport, with both Ford and Citroen reaffirming their commitment to the WRC. That the news came on the day that BMW pulled out of Formula 1 is not insignificant.

Coincidentally, Robert Kubica‘s interest in rallying came out the day before BMW’s announcement. Delightfully, he commended rally drivers on their “big balls”.

Kubica might be interested in a bit of rallying, but Kimi Raikkonen is going at least one better this week, taking part in Rally Finland. He’s considering a switch to the WRC after his Formula 1 career. “I have at least one year to make my mind up,” he maintains. Do you though? Ferrari and Fernando Alonso may yet have something to say about that.

Meanwhile, rumours that Sebastien Loeb could make the switch in the opposite direction just won’t go away. He’s talking to Citroen about next year, but nothing is signed. Like Valentino Rossi, though, I reckon Loeb will stick to what he knows for the time being.

Citroen are also talking about retaining the services of Dani Sordo, which continues to faintly surprise me. Surely the factory Citroen squad can do better?

More surprising, though, is that Ford are sticking with the ever erratic Jari-Matti Latvala. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s a hugely entertaining driver, but for a manufacturer to put up with so many mistakes is incredible. Indeed, Latvala himself called the news “a little surprise”.

Incidentally, it’ll be no surprise at all that Ford are also hanging on to Mikko Hirvonen.

So, the manufacturers are sticking by the WRC, top Formula 1 drivers are interested in it, and the promoter is doing its job. You know, there’s a danger that rallying could become popular at this rate.