*Long post alert*

Thinking back, the IRC in 2011 was by far the most enjoyable championship ive followed since all the way back to the 2001 WRC title fight.

There was just something about the IRC that was special and more exciting than the WRC for me. There was number of reasons why i loved the championship;
- The TV coverage was superb, im sure everyone remembers all the live stages in Monte at the start of that year, watching Hanninen and Solberg getting caught out making a woefully wrong tyre choice while in first and second respectively, with Bouffier and Delecour taking advantage :-). The TV coverge was good throughout the year, including 3 or 4 more events with live stages - i know Scotland and Cyprus had live stages ( Everyone i hope still remembers Neuville on the Golden stage rally pushing like hell with the rear of his car hanging off the cliff).

- The interesting calendar with the historic events such as Monte, Corsica, Ypres, Barum and Sanremo mixed in with exciting new events to a major rally championship, such as Azores and Scotland (plus a few others, Ukraine etc) was also why enjoyed the championship.

- The exciting young drivers and diverse entry lists. Many of these drivers are now in the WRC but the battles were really immense in 2011, so many final stage battles with just a second or so between drivers at the end. I remember Mikklesen binning it in Hungary on the final stage chasing his first win, and Andreas also losing out on the final stage in Sanremo to Neuville by the smallest of margines. It was great for the sport. Was glad Andreas finally got his first win in Scotland.

- Probably the biggest reason i loved the IRC though - and one of the reasons the series became so big - was the S2000 cars. The cars were so enjoyable to watch. Standing in a dark, muddy Scottish forest watching and listening to those screaming cars flying past was some spectacle. Like the old days of rallying in a way. I know the cars werent as outright fast as WRC cars etc, but when the S2000s were at full pelt they were just more exciting to watch and the noise was great.

Anyway sorry for rambling ;-), just wanted to share my thoughts. I think the IRC was at its absolute peak between 2010-2012. It was fantastic to watch and follow the championship. I highly doubt the ERC will get back to that level but hopefully it improves from its current state (Im barely interested in at all just now). Hopefully Skodas arrival with the new R5 will help but i dont know....