As the educated reader knows, the first deadline for Rata-SM (Finnish Championships) entry passed 15.1.2009. The number of participants registered so far seems worrisomely low, at least if you trust the information on the official KITI site.
However, the KITI system has had some technical difficulties, so the information there may be wrong. In the Formula Ford class, according to the series' official website, four contestants have so far enrolled. Rumors are that there are at least 9 cars planning entry, so half is missing. Of course, it would be nice to see something like 15+ cars in the series, but this may be hoping for too much...
The financial crisis is probably making it tough for teams to meet their budgets, as sponsorships are hard to get. On the other hand, based on costs this should really hit the Formula Renault series the hardest and this might in fact benefit the Formula Ford series. Well, we will find out as the season nears. Right now things are still much up in the air, and even the discount Rata-SM offered for the early entrants has not seemed to be enough to attract a big number of teams and drivers. The next deadline hits in March, after which entry prices go up another notch. Thus we expect to be wiser then.
Overall the race fees have gone up again, and this may annoy many of the less funded teams. Also, the option to participate in a single race is now pretty much exhausted, as prices for guest entrants has gone up to ridiculously high amounts. The idea is apparently to force teams and drivers to do the full series. However, as the entry fees are so high there is a risk that the net effect is that several drivers decide to take a break. At this stage, Rata-SM really cannot afford this, so it seems here a bad decision has been made policywise.
Regardless, let's hope for the best, and see what happens to then numbers in the coming months!
