WRC vs IRC

[gravelman]

I have no proof only what I personally beleive but I think Jean Todt will not allow WRC and IRC to remain in 2011. I anticipate the 2011 WRC calendar will start off with Monte Carlo. I guess Citroen, Ford, Prodrive (Mini or Mazda) will be present, possibly Tommi Makinen Racing with a 1.6T Subaru, and in 2012 VW will join WRC
IRC will fade away in name, but the spirit of IRC, longer routes more freedom in formats will be taken on by WRC and even Safari will be back.
I also expect Loeb to move to endurance racing after winning his 7th wrc title.
2011 will be the Mikko and Ogier era, as a few of the current wrc car driving lot move off to new pastures.

1.6T Subaru? Do you know something the rest of us don't? Has my namsake pulled off a masterstroke over in Finland?

[pettersolberg29]

2011 will be too soon for Ogier, although I know that's not your point! However I do agree that the new era i.e. 2011-2020 will be dominated by Ogier and Mikkelsen. I see no-one else with the potential that these two have.

[Simmi]

I have no proof only what I personally beleive but I think Jean Todt will not allow WRC and IRC to remain in 2011. I anticipate the 2011 WRC calendar will start off with Monte Carlo. I guess Citroen, Ford, Prodrive (Mini or Mazda) will be present, possibly Tommi Makinen Racing with a 1.6T Subaru, and in 2012 VW will join WRC
IRC will fade away in name, but the spirit of IRC, longer routes more freedom in formats will be taken on by WRC and even Safari will be back.
I also expect Loeb to move to endurance racing after winning his 7th wrc title.
2011 will be the Mikko and Ogier era, as a few of the current wrc car driving lot move off to new pastures.

I like the sound of this. I dont think the IRC will last that much longer. It was a stop-gap and a wake up call that will allow the WRC to move forward.

They need to kill the IRC. Make friends with Eurosport and try to do a deal to bring their brand of coverage (albeit with a bit more gloss) to the WRC.

1.6T WRC // PWRC // R2/R3 JWRC - sounds good to me.

In all seriousness what manufacturer could Tommi Makinen Racing bring to the WRC?

[MJW]

In all seriousness what manufacturer could Tommi Makinen Racing bring to the WRC?

SUBARU

[Tomi]

IRC will live just as long someone is interested to pay the bill, and Eurosport is not doing so well, no one or nobody is trying to kill it or need it killed.

[Simmi]

IRC will live just as long someone is interested to pay the bill, and Eurosport is not doing so well, no one or nobody is trying to kill it or need it killed.

Don't you think the FIA/ISC would prefer if it wasn't stealing headlines/manufacturers away from the WRC though? They might want to see it merged or removed.

[Tomi]

Don't you think the FIA/ISC would prefer if it wasn't stealing headlines/manufacturers away from the WRC though? They might want to see it merged or removed.

No i dont, IRC is a new serie, but soon you will see that the same law of business is there too, and car brands will take off, soon as participating becomes an burdon.
Also its impossible to merge, I belive that when Eurosport call it a day, the French might try to create some other small serie in Central Europe.

[OldF]

1.6T Subaru? Do you know something the rest of us don't? Has my namsake pulled off a masterstroke over in Finland?

In the issue no 1/2010 of Vauhdin Maailma there’s an interview with Tommi and he says he’s interested in running a WRC team and Subaru has a suitable 1,6T engine but that’s all. TMR has 2500 sqrm new facilities and at the moment they’re building about 20 Subaru N-group cars per year of which about 90% are exported. He also says that the “signals” from Japan also tells that Subaru will put efforts on group N.

A 2011 WRC will be a S2000 – 2000cc engine + 1,6T engine and a gearbox similar used at the moment in S2000 cars that can cope with the higher torque.

[J.Lindstroem]

We sure do have an exciting future ahead!

[RS]

I like the sound of this. I dont think the IRC will last that much longer. It was a stop-gap and a wake up call that will allow the WRC to move forward.

They need to kill the IRC. Make friends with Eurosport and try to do a deal to bring their brand of coverage (albeit with a bit more gloss) to the WRC.

Then maybe they should have given the promoter contract to Eurosport instead of North One...