Building service area - 10min of black screen silence - packing service area and leaving :D
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Based on this article I would say they are definitely gone from the series
https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/hyund...s-dont-change/
And about Portugal. Tänak sounds quite pessimistic in an interview given to Estonian media saying that they haven’t tested the car on gravel. Which is a half lie IMO because at the end of the last year they were testing. I guess he means the new car and the new tyres combo.
Like reading same whining article for 10th time.. we want this and we want that..
I hope they leave. Atleast Toyota won't be able to pretend anymore that they have any competition and that they aren't just collecting Mickey Mouse titles
WRC cant go on with just Toyota and M'Sport though, so Hyundai have them over a barrel.
Plus Hyundai do need to promote their road cars which aren't pure ICE now, never mind from 2027.
TBH I dont know how much support Ford will continue to give to M-Sport in future as the Mk2 Puma will be pure EV. Maybe unlike Hyundai they'll just he happy with the FORD name being promoted by WRC rather than the tech.
Good summary of the situation by RallyingUK:
https://x.com/RallyingUK/status/1917175290771447902
Ultimately, if they do decide to pull out, I would think they will have to go to Rally2 in the short term to ensure some sort of competitive championship.
In the broader terms, the car industry is clearly pulling back on the speed of transition to EV as the sales (despite whatever rubbish people claim) just aren’t sufficient with private buyers, in the Uk anyway. We have seen numerous announcements from manufactures reinvesting in ICE technology.
The current status quo will have to change as the manufactures/dealers etc just can’t sustain the level of pre-registrations and discounting to meet arbitrary targets.
If that leaves space for the WRC to run as ICE only with manufacture support indefinitely, I don’t know.
And here we go again. Why would rulemakers even bother listen to them, if they will leave anyway, no matter what rule will be changed, just because of them. They threat now for so long. If there is really interest from manufacturers and tuners for 2027, I think that they should not change anything. And Hyundai, we are sick of complaining. Just go already and ashame yourself even in WEC, I bet Toyota and all others will beat them there too.