Why has the WRC gone so poor in quality

[jens]

I have thought that there might be something to do with current media and information world.

Car manufacturers want to make as much advertising as possible, when they are competing in motorsports and one of the best ways for that is to advertise through TV. Rallying is not a TV-sport and I think that this might be the reason, why manufacturers are not too interested in rallying. In WRC car manufacturers get fewer options of advertising than they get on racing circuits with live TV-coverage.

As someone mentioned, they main solution would be something quite cheap like S2000, which would justify the money thrown in considering how much or few benefit it brings. At the moment the expensiveness of WRC is higher than the possible positive effect of car sales.

[kleisj]

Main reason as many, if not all, have said is FIA.

-Too many rallies drove the costs sky high
-2 cars per team!!! Unbelievable i found it! but unfortunately true
-Less cars means less drivers and ofcourse less interest.
-Sad fact is that drivers are chosen from their pockets...!
-All the electronics bits and pieces raised extremely the costs.
-Many said McRae is not good enough anymore...! Ok maybe (still, I would say he would be in top5) but for sure noone is as spectacular as he was! And this kind of attraction is still missed. Gigi.... give a car to Gigi!!!
Can someone say that Sordo or Hirvo are spectacular? In some cases yes they might be. But in some.... For me they are still no3 drivers since they cannot compete directly with their team mates. Don't take me wrong. I like them, but they are not up to the desired level yet to be an equal no2 driver for a top team.

It is so stupid to see in one of the highest forms of motorsport 2 professional teams and one semi-pro (yes Subaru i mean). What can we expect after that. At least in the past we could see Lancia or Toyota entering 3 and 4 cars for a race. An in the most cases we had 2 equal or almost equal drivers per team and one young gun or a domestic rally specialist.
Even in the worst of the rally years that I have seen nothing can be compared with the last 3 years. And year by year is getting worse. Much worse

FIA wanted to apply their plans they had in mind. They did! Probably made them richer in sort term. The cost was to slowly kill WRC. And ofcourse showed how great they love and care for this sport!

[Fischer]

Ultimately the FIA is to be blamed for the drop in quality.
Ofcourse the dominancy of a certain French driver (at a time when the WRC is at it's lowpoint) doesn't make things much better.

[WRXedUSA]

I know is is asinine, and far fetched, but I think GroupA should be tossed.

PCWRC has much more excitement.

[J4MIE]

Please, PLEASE don't even dare suggest WRC is replaced with PCWRC

[Petest205]

Its got nothing to do with a certain french driver... He is doing so well cos he is one of the best driver/team combinations around at the moment.
Thats not making it boring. its gone too expensive and some teams cant find the resources,


Bring back toyota and someone give that class italian driver a car.....

[pino]

Main reason as many, if not all, have said is FIA.

-Too many rallies drove the costs sky high
-2 cars per team!!! Unbelievable i found it! but unfortunately true
-Less cars means less drivers and ofcourse less interest.
-Sad fact is that drivers are chosen from their pockets...!
-All the electronics bits and pieces raised extremely the costs.
-Many said McRae is not good enough anymore...! Ok maybe (still, I would say he would be in top5) but for sure noone is as spectacular as he was! And this kind of attraction is still missed. Gigi.... give a car to Gigi!!!

I agree 100% especially about Gigi

[Daniel]

I know is is asinine, and far fetched, but I think GroupA should be tossed.

PCWRC has much more excitement.

WTF? Ban him Jamie.......

[Livewireshock]

One factor that skips most peoples attention is that with more manufacturers, there are less chances for winning.

There are alot of manufacturers who like the idea of having a two/three horse race. The ability to say we are the winner here is much greater.

No matter what parity exists, not all manufacturers can be on top all the time. The slide of Subaru & Mitsubishi is an example. With 7 manufacturers, it is hard to promote your product when you are coming forth to seventh. It is hard to keep focus & drive when things do not go the way they like.

It makes Subaru's determination to regain the high ground even better. It also explains why Mitsubishi dropped out when the company could not find it in themselves to compete with an inferior vehicle under financial strain.

Seat, Hyundai & Nissan were quick to withdraw & it is amazing that Skoda hung in as long as it did. Peugeot pulled the plug after the 307 proved to not be a winner, nobody likes not being on the podium. Yes there are financial & quality of car issues with these entries but there is also an X factor if you will that allows a team to compete, punching above their weight that might succeed.

Personally I think it would be great personally to see the sport with many different cars. Yet there is nothing sporting about why companies rally their cars, they are there to win, in order to sell more cars. That is it, end of story from their point of view.

Look at DTM, Nascar, V8Supercars and other big name series in the world. How many manufacturers exist there? 2 to 3. With the same reasons why as I wrote above. Every now and then a new entrant appears but it causes a downfall of another.

[jonkka]

I know is is asinine, and far fetched, but I think GroupA should be tossed.

PCWRC has much more excitement.

Like guessing whose car will break first? Gr N is great concept but is way too fragile to be considered as top formula of the sport.