I don’t need to point out again that UK TV coverage of the World Rally Championship being awarded to ESPN is less than helpful. Not only is the channel not free to air, it’s a standalone subscription channel, so not even included in pay TV packages. You either pay about £10 a month just for ESPN, or you don’t get it.

So, much as we’d all like WRC to be back on good old Dave, it isn’t. Alternatives must be found: Rally Sweden is looking like a bit of a bloody corker.

For those with pay TV of some form, there is good news. Despite the deal with ESPN being described as exclusive, the nightly coverage on Motors TV continues in 2011.

But that’s no good for those of us with just Freeview. Now, it’s not hard to find the coverage online. But that is, shall we say, a grey area; so what are the more official alternatives?

WRC.com

Well, it’s pretty much WRC.com. For live updates, the best bet is the stage times section, since by default it shows the latest stage result as it comes in, alongside the updated overall standings. I’d not noticed before, so I don’t know whether they’re new, but there are also live text and split times pages.

The only problem with all that is that WRC.com is a bit temperamental, technologically, and quite often the live pages don’t display any actual data without a refresh or two, or selecting something from a drop down box. It’s just not very slick.

Oh, and the website is getting an absolute hammering this weekend, so it’s coming up as unavailable at times. Possibly because people like me know they won’t be watching a nice highlights programme on Sunday evening, so they’re keeping a closer eye on the rally as it unfolds.

And if you want to hear it unfold, World Rally Radio is bloody wonderful, broadcasting virtually uninterrupted coverage throughout the entire rally. I’ve only ever dipped into it before, but I’ve had it on more for Rally Sweden, and it’s a pretty remarkable operation.

As for official footage, there are some decent clips on the website, but they’re just clips – nothing to convey the story of the rally. The adverts before each video are less than ideal too.

The official podcast does a much better job of discussing the progress of the rally, through nightly instalments. It would be even better if they were on iTunes a bit quicker.

Or available through the WRC App, for that matter. Virtually everything else is available through the app though, including radio, video and live timing. It looks promising so far, but I’ll be putting it through its paces properly for the rest of the weekend, as I won’t be at home, so it will be my only way to follow Rally Sweden.

Previous seasons on YouTube

Back to video, there is an official YouTube channel, but that’s nothing like as up to date as WRC.com. It does have an impressive archive of TV highlights shows though.

So if, on Sunday night, you’re particularly missing the WRC, why not pretend that the last 10 years haven’t happened, and watch nearly an hour of highlights from Rally Sweden 2001. I think I might.