Can a mod please delete the above post? I'm concerned that someone at the FIA might read it and think it a seriously good idea.
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I totally agree.also if wrc is not rally but something else,then why follow it??????i love rallies ,wrc will be a different sport so i don't want to follow it.ERC will be the best solution for us in the future.i also believe that eurosport maybe will turn erc to irc again,in order to have a really word championsip,so no problem for us.
I worry that the 'lower' series will follow suit. I hope not.
I have a theory, possibly cynical, but anyway; RedBull have had no intention of properly promoting the WRC in its current format. They have a close relationship with the VW group, have they been plotting this for a while? Turning the WRC into WRC-lite, and with a 'shoot out' they will then start promoting properly.
They could have done much more from the word go; they have RedBullTV - a perfect platform for the WRC highlights/ live coverage. And they haven't used it. Preferring to sell rights to TV stations, mostly subscription channels.....
If this gets through, which it seems it will, this is the last season of the WRC for me. It'll be dead to me after Rally GB. How can they have the nerve to completely change the core format of how a rally works, a format to which the WRC has basically ran for 40 years, and just do it with almost complete indifference. And why is this being done? Seemingly solely to seal all these fantastic TV deals that are suddenly going to be magicked up by WRC Promoter/Red Bull (once someone has actually woken them up), courtesy of an 'event' being set up by a short two day qualifying rally with a spattering of points on offer, followed by a series of equations, and decided over one short single stage shootout... How can the four (well, Citroen have been quiet, so maybe three) manufacturers operating in the 'pinnacle' Championship of the disciple of rallying just decide that, all of a sudden, the Championship should run to a completely different format to virtually ever other rally in the world. How can they just ignore the long history and principals of this discipline, or knowingly p*ss all over them, and go in a new direction, creating a new sport out of the old one. How can the FIA even contemplate this?!
I've only followed the WRC for just over 10 years and attended Rally GB since 2012, so a relative newcomer compared to most of you. I came in towards the end of the last 'boom'. I've stuck with it through the rough years, years of two manufactures battling over short rallies, often dominated by a Sebastian, increasingly having to access footage via the web and niche satellite TV channels. I always imagined, hoped, that one day, the WRC would get back around to a peak like those seen in the late 70s, mid 80s and late 90s/early 2000s. What with VW and Hyundai coming in, the new promoter and talk of Toyota being on the cusp of a return I had been more hopeful for the future of the WRC at the start of 2014, but with this unnecessary re-imagining of the very concept of rallying, all interest has been killed off for me.
Jost Capito seems to infer that us fans should like it or lump it. Well, I for one will be walking away. Many disappointing decisions have been made over the history of the WRC, but this is just one step too far. Here's hoping the ERC picks up some momentum...
Lets first see the changes and then all you little girls can gather and cry... or just follow the ladycup ERC... it will be better for all.