"When I started full-time at the FIA in June, I was in charge of the off-road side of things, which included rallycross, autocross and also hill climbing – completely unknown territory for Estonians," Abel said. "Every time I went to work I had to explain why we didn't have hill climbing. Our highest mountain is 318 meters high, so we can't have hill climbing competitions."

Now, Abel has also added off-road rallying to her remit, leading the world-famous Dakar, as well as local rallies around the world, electric car rallies and speed records.

Abel says that when it comes to her work, there is no set routine. "No two weeks are the same. I would even say there are no two days the same. I always go to work with a specific plan, but that plan very rarely comes to fruition," she said.

"There is a lot, of attending different meetings: both in-house and with external partners. In addition to that, there is managing my own team. Each category has its own leader."

"There is a lot of collaboration with our technical department, but also now being part of the FIA management team, there are all the budget management and administrative issues and so on," Abel continued.

"But a huge emphasis is on the administrative side. If I thought that was big before, it's certainly been far, far bigger than I expected."

These are turbulent times in the world of motor racing, with  number of questions hanging over the future of the sport. Will things get better and will there be more participants?

"I think that the new 2027 technical regulations, which were approved by the World Motor Sport Council last week, are definitely a very good starting point in that regard," said Abel.

"At the moment the WRC2 cars are very popular, the competition is certainly very strong and the category has proven itself. We are very much moving in that direction. I would really like to hope that a brighter future lies ahead."

Although Abel is Estonian and high up in the FIA structures, that will have no impact on Rally Estonia's position in the WRC calendar, for example. "That is certainly not my decision. The WRC calendar is purely the promoter's domain and it's their right to put it together," she said.

"Those countries that have made their agreements with the promoters will end up on the calendar, but I have to say here that Rally Estonia is certainly very, very highly thought of by the FIA in terms of its organizational competence. It is always very, very good to hear this at work when discussing Estonian competitors and when talking about the organization of Rally Estonia. It's great to be an Estonian!"

---

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!