Lukas said: "The rally is taking place, the rally is taking place in a safe way, but decisions related to the audience will be made when they are timely."

Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik (Center) said the government has not yet made any decision regarding Rally Estonia and discussions are still ahead. 

The social minister said: "But in the view of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the most important thing is to ensure the health and safety of people. We are not making an exception for anyone in the rules, but will discuss what the alternatives could be to ensure infection safety."

Kiik added: "Something that will not happen is that the competitors and their teams are allowed into the country without any rules and this is also not being sought by anyone."

Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center) emphasized that this is a very important event for Estonia. "I think that it is very reasonable to test athletes in their country of location and a negative result could ensure that the athlete would not have to remain in quarantine for 14 days."

The WRC season will continue in Estonia after a long break, with Rally Estonia held on September 4-6, in various locations in the south of the country. This will mark the return of the currently suspended WRC season, following the coronavirus pandemic, and will make Estonia the 33rd country to host a WRC round since the series started in 1973.

The event will span three days and will be held in traditional Rally Estonia regions in Tartu and South Estonia, such as Kanepi, Kambja, Otepää and Elva.

The sale of rally passes begun on Tuesday, August 4 and 16,000 rally passes will be sold, distributed into 16 different batches, of 1,000 each. With this distribution, the organizers can ensure that no more than 1,000 people will be in one general region at any one time for too long, as the packages are scheduled to follow different locations at different times. Each rally pass allows the spectator to follow five stages of the rally.

The whole rally programme can be found here.

France's Sebastien Ogier (Toyota) currently leads the series. Ott Tänak of Estonia (Hyundai) is reigning drivers' champion.

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