One of the stewards of "Aleksandrov Rally Karpaty", Britain’s Andy Millns, shared his impressions from his first visit to Ukraine.

Say at once: the role of the steward of FIA on the rally is very different from the role of an FIA observer.  An observer, doing the job,  delves into all the details of the organizational and sport process, is studying the documentation and its compliance with what is happening, asks questions regarding any nuances – and eventually, he knows absolutely everything about the race. Stewards primarily monitor compliance with the regulations, find answers to all issues and take prompt decisions, which required by constantly changing situation during the race. The above was confirmed by the very first words said by Mr. Millns...

"Unlike John (Anagnostopulos, FIA observer – note by the author), I cannot give any estimates as I am here not for that – explained Andy Millns. – I can only share some impressions of what I’ve seen. Of course, we passed on all special stages and I have to admit that they are simply fantastic. I think I will not be original if I say that the real star of the race was Shurdin pass – it is quite a treasure of this rally.  Such specials could be found in the mountainous regions of Scotland. Perhaps the only thing that seemed to me – some sections of the route were too fast, and from the standpoint of security some of them should have been slower.

Also, I was pleasantly impressed with the staff and the headquarters of the rally. I visit various European and World rallies often and, sometimes, things can be quite different. I will not name those events, but several times I had to deal with the fact that people in the rally HQ just do not understand what their job is. On "Aleksandrov Rally" the rally HQ has worked just fine, and any question of any of the stewards was immediately answered.

But the thing that made me a most favorable impression – the number of young people who are engaged in organizing of the race. Yes, of course, they largely lack the experience, but experience is yet to come. If the Ukrainian organizers are set to raise the level of their competition to the worlds like, you just need to invite experts from countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, and United Kingdom. In these countries, the rallies are held at a very high level in terms of organization and security, and European experts would have helped you develop faster. At the same time you have your best card – the youth. All these guys who I see on "Aleksandrov Rally" may become the basis for a great team. They have a lot of time ahead to learn and as a result to become true professionals".