WRC Calendar 2018

[Tarmop]

Recce and service cars yes, but competition cars go back to the main base for servicing. They are pretty beaten after those rough events and need a good overhaul and checking, not something you can do in a tent. If anything, it would be more expensive to have those events so close.

[Eli]

How come Australia has kept it's place since 2013 is beyond me, I mean the entry list is quite small especially now it's the season finale, and it doesn't have that special gravel it used to have back in Perth. Why can't they just take out Australia, bring back NZ, put Wales @ the end of the season, and for the time being don't have a replacement for Poland & once they find a proper rally add it to the calendar.
I guess it's all about the money and who pays best. On a bit of a different note, I hope the rallies will be longer than this year's average of 320Km of competitive driving.

[stefanvv]

On a bit of a different note, I hope the rallies will be longer than this year's average of 320Km of competitive driving.

Yes, they can do that. The new wrc cars has proved their reliability to last longer routes, they might even reconsider getting rid of rally2.

[Eli]

Also a return for more night time stages would be nice in rallies like: Sweden, Corsica, Germany, Wales (more than this year), Spain... Would add a bit of an adverse challenge for the crews.

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[er88]

Mexico replaced by New Zealand is the ideal.

Nah. Both events are really unique and we need the championship to be more worldwide. A European event has to go if they are going to stick with just 13.

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[AnttiL]

Yes, they can do that. The new wrc cars has proved their reliability to last longer routes, they might even reconsider getting rid of rally2.

I don't agree with that. I think the point of Rally2 is that we have more manufacturer cars by the last day. Rally2 cars can score manufacturer points and that's a reason for manufacturers to put the cars into rally2, as well as drivers being able to score power stage points.

But I wouldn't mind having a bit more stage kms, maybe a thursday evening leg after the super special.

[pantealex]

Mexico and Argentina have so short entry list that don´t deserve slot in WRC. It´s not right that you can buy WRC(2/3) points.

There are other rallies outside europe which would attract more entries.
And many rallies inside europa which are better than Mexico or Argentina.

[rallyfiend]

NZ is just too small a car market for anyone to care about. The reality is that is just has nice roads. If they're not able to pay, I imagine that's not enough for the teams or promoter to actually want to go there.

NZ had 146,000 new car registrations in 2016.
Australia had 1,178,000....

That's a big difference...

[tommeke_B]

Yes. But as discussed before, the impact you have on that market is important too. In Australia nobody cares about the rally. So how much return do you get then? Finland has a small car market but when the rally is there, it's the biggest event in the year and everyone is following it. For the manufacturers it's better to find another marketing strategy in those big countries where nobody cares about rallying, and use rallying where people are interested. You cannot "build" interest in WRC in just a couple of years.

[pantealex]

In Finland we sell way less cars than NZ does, but still teams usually vote Finland as best event, so nothing to do with car sales. If we only look car sales, we would have India, China, USA, Russia...