[WRC] Rally Sweden 2024

[seb_sh]

Reading the debates here, twitter, dirtfish comments section, reddit, I can't help but feel they've put the cart before the horse again. So there is sometimes Sunday cruising due to big gaps. Instead of a small incentive they've come up with this system which like it or hate it has managed to absolutely stir everyone up and divide the fans. Just because of that it has failed. If there were a few moaners they could get over it but literally 90% of replies are negative opinions about the points.

https://twitter.com/OfficialWRC/stat...gLnW0xTpA&s=19

[WRC1]

Not talking about the whole race nor other competitors, nor what cruising is or easy wins, or what motorsport typically involves: Context is, why would a typical fan watch TV for several hours at the end of the 24 a car they know to be cruising and isn't racing?

You say plenty of people, I say only a dedicated minority and it's not a good way to stimulate stories, excitement, growth of the series...

24hours race is a good example, what would people say if the one who drives the fastest Laps in the last hour of the race earns more points for LeMans Series than the winner...?? complete Nonsense, in Rallying we have exactly this...i think it should be changed as soon as possible, winner of Overall Event must get the most points.

Kalle has retired on Friday, gets 11 points, EP won the Rallye, drove every single stage and gets 8 points more??? this is not fair, this is Bullshit.

[flat_right]

Has there been any video of Rovanperä's Friday incident? Onboard etc?

[Rallyper]

Best of WRC Sweden 2024 video First time for me with snow

https://youtu.be/wIFo1RGrGsI

Very good filming. I could almost smell fumes from leaking gearoil, dusty snow, exhaust fumes... And the speed!

[becher]

Not talking about the whole race nor other competitors, nor what cruising is or easy wins, or what motorsport typically involves: Context is, why would a typical fan watch TV for several hours at the end of the 24 a car they know to be cruising and isn't racing?

You say plenty of people, I say only a dedicated minority and it's not a good way to stimulate stories, excitement, growth of the series...

The question is if you want motorsport or a over the top show? In the past rallies were rarely a fight to the finish, cruising was normal, with five minute gaps like we had quite often in the past drivers usually knew it didn't make sense to push like mad. We just don't remember it because there was no All live/Rally TV. By the current logic of plenty of people around here rallying as a sport should have been killed off by 1977 or so.

[Rallyper]

Alongside pointscoring discussion - wasn´t it a very good rally Sweden? Good PR for snowrallies, weather, 360´s; you had it all. Also good coverage from RallyTV.

I enjoyed Rally Sweden a lot from my computer.

[Morte66]

Alongside pointscoring discussion - wasn´t it a very good rally Sweden? Good PR for snowrallies, weather, 360´s; you had it all. Also good coverage from RallyTV.

I enjoyed Rally Sweden a lot from my computer.

Yes, same here.

I think it's lucky the falling snow only lasted one afternoon. One WRC2 stage winner is a story, a couple of days of it would make me think "This is getting silly".

And it helped that both my guys (Evans and Pajari) were in the battles.

But mostly I just like it being a snow rally. I like watching them. Monte and Sweden have always been my favourites.

[becher]

Alongside pointscoring discussion - wasn´t it a very good rally Sweden? Good PR for snowrallies, weather, 360´s; you had it all. Also good coverage from RallyTV.

I enjoyed Rally Sweden a lot from my computer.

Agree, both Monte and Sweden were very entertaining.

[wyler]

Sunday cruising is such a small problem that even if you "solve" it with weird point system, you won't see a difference in the fanbase. I highly doubt anybody will say "Oh Sundays used to be so boring, now some of the drivers push more for those 3-4 stages"

that's very wrong. last time i saw a live wrc event (italy 2023) a lot, really a lot of fans on site just bypassed sunday morning, 'cause it was terrible. power stage aside, other stages were dull. i must admit i was very disappointed as well, going to see a wrc takes some effort, and that was really a waste of it. i don't blame the sporting side, drivers are sensible to cruise on sunday, but sideroad it was disappointing. it was almost the feeling of a stopped stage for many drivers. i remember something like sordo down 1 min in 10 km "tyre management". when you're out to see the only live action u can get in a year, it makes huge difference to the fan base.

EDIT: to be clear, what i mean is sunday cruise was so extreme to become a problem. it was extremely visible. i don't mind cruising when it is "normal" (losing 5-10-15 sec in a stage) sideroad looks like a fast car anyway, losing 1min made the car look wrong.

[Backa]

I am not sure about 24hours being good example, it's way different event than WRC rally divided into multiple special stages.

In WRC it's much easier to reduce cruising, make end of saturday and sunday more interesting and securing most points for winner than in WEC. They just disregard rally winner reward issue and should correct that.

The question is if you want motorsport or a over the top show? In the past rallies were rarely a fight to the finish, cruising was normal, with five minute gaps like we had quite often in the past drivers usually knew it didn't make sense to push like mad. We just don't remember it because there was no All live/Rally TV. By the current logic of plenty of people around here rallying as a sport should have been killed off by 1977 or so.

Reducing cruising is not equal to making WRC "over the top show". It's possible to improve entertainment value of latter stages while keeping competitive spirit.

Something working for 1977 doesn't mean it would work well in 2024 too. Access to follow different sports is easier nowadays.