With Monte Carlo out, and if you could decide, what rallies should be part of the 2012 calendar ?
What kind of split should it have btw gravel, asfalt and snow ?
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With Monte Carlo out, and if you could decide, what rallies should be part of the 2012 calendar ?
What kind of split should it have btw gravel, asfalt and snow ?
I thought they would combine WRC and IRC ? Didn't read to much into it so it could be only WRC and that would be a shame.
It will be only WRC, IRC is out of the picture, at least for Monte. But there are enough other good rally's to keep the championship alive. Pitty that MC is no longer part of it, but so be it.Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
Just read it Walter, a pity indeed and I think MC will be in the weekend again, Mouton was probably begging on her knees to get them back :-/Quote:
Originally Posted by wwbroe
They need to find some new nice winter opener for the season.
There shouldn't be shortage of events that would be interested in IRC, I think. What about combining more ERC with IRC - Valais, Antibes or the 2012 ERC opener Jänner rally - it's wintry. Last Friday's WMSC had some decision made on upscaling ERC's quality as well, so perhaps not.
If I'd get to pick any rallies (out of WRC) to be on IRC calender, at least Corsica should stay, Ypres and Barum definitely (any talk on 2012 Barum date, see WRC Germany is week later in 2012), Sanremo (if out of WRC), Poland should make for an interesting gravel rally, South-Estonian Rally should do as well. If a 12-event calender, I'd like to see one winter event (be it MC like tarmac or true Scandinavian gravel road winter rally), 4-5 gravel rallies (one or two before season mid-point) and rest on different kind of tarmac.
Last time the discussion was going on they told that IRC and WRC both will be there.
Other than that, Madeira, Canarias, Cyprus, Corsica, Acores are nice events, but I hope to see more events on the mainland and maybe outside Europe as well.
Canarias is a beautiful Island with good connection to continent and it had really nice entry as well (last year it was not so good). At the same time Acores and Maderia, same country and they kind of compete with each other. Last year there were only 6 S2000 finishers in Acores and 5 S2000 finishers in top 10 in Maderia (well, there were more S2000 finishers but they were way off the pace). I like Acores more, because of its unique gravel stages.
Cyprus had also very bad entry list but they had good sponsor and this golden stage idea was nice. I think that such a rough gravel is not very good for S2000 class.
So, snow event is needed and maybe some smooth gravel as well, currently it is too much of tarmac (only 2 proper gravel rallies). Finns still have this Pirelli contract and as far as I understand, Swedes and Norwegians are trying to compile some kind of double effort for WRC, so there are not much winter events to choose right now. Maybe Estonia and Latvia should make also double effort for IRC winter rally (Gulbene + Võru winter rally), or Russia (last visit was not so successful, so, it has a lot of difficulties as well) or Poland (It might be hard to find proper snow conditions).
So, other thing is that IRC needs to broaden a bit to the Northern Europe as well.
For smooth gravel Estonia or Poland would be good or even a Finish rally or like some years ago included in the ERC South Swedish Rally. IRC has alot of tarmac and WRC alot of gravel so it's not so bad.
People in Poland have only target, be in WRC Calendar but i don't know why. Gentelman in FIA don't want Rally Poland in calendar so why they don't want to be a part of IRC?
Maybe Mille Miglia will be in the calendar?
South Swedish rally would be an excellent idea. I have visited this event on a couple of occasions and i must say that i was very charmed by their stages. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
bluuford: I'm sure Barum date will be set to avoid collision with Deutschland, so most likely Barum will be a week sooner.
So if a 12 round calendar, i would prefer
2 x Winterrally
5 x Gravelrally
5 x Asfaltrally
Winter: could be Arctic rally (fin), and one in either Norway or one of the Baltic countries)
Gravel: Keep the two that are on the calendar, and add, South Swedish, 1 rally in Germany, 1 in east Europe
Asfalt: Take out Canarias and Madeira, keep the rest !
Some tricky decisions ahead for IRC....
I wrote recently on this forum that I thought that the FIA should basically give the commercial rights for the ERC to Eurosport events. This would solve two problems; it would give the ERC a much needed boost and it would be a more realistic name for Eurosport's championship which has struggled with it's attempts to go outside Europe before.
In my opinion they should make the calendar only 8, or maximum 10, rounds and concentrate on quality and not quantity. They should try to make live tv from more rounds.
5/3 asphalt/loose surface or 6/4 (if 10 rounds) would be a good split and yes, including one snow rally in the loose surface events would be a nice idea.
It's good they concentrate not on outside of Europe, WRC there attempts are always good they have to start there! In IRC not and that's better for the teams who have smaller budget but still can have some nice result in the championship! Fia will never give those rights away. And u need money for more live tv.
Btw the reason of Monte Carlo for having so many live stages ? How comes that to have a great season opener in promoting aspects? Or is there some sponsor or something else behind that it was almost 100 % live?
Monte live coverage was fully supported by Automobile Club de Monaco if I am not mistaken. Maybe there was some kind of condition by Monte that they still want to keep the full TV coverage even if they are in WRC but WRC has its promoter already, so that is why it took so long to reach to some kind of agreement. Lets see what happens..Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
On the other side, it is named Intercontinental Rally Challenge and the rallies this year are only in Europe. I prefer than the name International Rally Challenge or International Rally Championship if they aren't going outside Europe anymore in the future.Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
Thought so that there was a reason for that.Quote:
Originally Posted by bluuford
Eurosport will not be the one who will broadcast that, MotorsTV could be they only show motorsport what means they don't have to many agreements to put 10 hours of live rally in it.
It would be cool to see IRC Monte live in Eurosport and WRC live in Motors (dreaming) :-)
What about the Arcit Lapland Rally?
As an IRC Supporter Event it would make sense.
Like this year the Mecsek Rallye in Hungary.
Pirelli tires must be used in all Finnish rallies. It does not work for IRC. The contract ends in 2012 if I am not mistaken, so, until then there is no chance unfortunately.
Oh,
Ok thank's for the answer bluuford
It was just an idea.
The Pirelli deal ends 2011 so maybe next year..Quote:
Originally Posted by bluuford
Pirelli deal
http://translate.google.com/translat...t%2F18232.aspx
Arctic would be perfect!Quote:
Originally Posted by OldF
If the Monte is out of the IRC - then why not replace with Valais? I was quite impressed with this Rally in 2008 when it was the first event covered live by Eurosport - good stages, stunning scenery - and running it in Jan, you could get a 'Monte' like event.
It might feel a little like an immitation Monte, but apart from that I agree what you say about the event. Not a bad idea!Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Yes indeed!
I like this idea as well, it is really a very nice rally with difficult stages. Even when it was run in oktober it was very tricky event. The possibility that they will run again in IRC is rather small tough, i tought it was a financial issue that made them go out of the championship. For me they can come back at any time. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
But as far as I can read, it does not say anyting on International Rallies on Finish soil, just the Finish Championship - or ?Quote:
Originally Posted by bluuford
The problem with Arctic Lapland is that’s a FC rally. Probably an IRC rally could be held as long as it is a separate rally.
Monte Carlo may still be part of the 2012 IRC calendar according to todays Motorsport News although it will either be run as a separate event or as a sub-class within the WRC event. This is good for IRC and for Monte, but only as Monte is a special case.
It would be good if IRC and WRC could come to some agreement to share resources for television coverage of both events.
Yes, it is still possible. We will see what will happen...
Janner rally might be a good replacement too! :)
Any news on 2012 in Cyprus?
As is?
Merge?
Peter Baert Eurosport TV commentator said today that the season will be contested out of 12 rounds maybe 13 (under negotation still I, I think Circuit of Ireland). But the season starts and ends on a isle.. With that I think Cyprus will be last event again but first event???
I'm really disappointed about Rally Scotland - actually, I'm pretty angry. Was very poorly supported by British rallying, should have been a round of the BRC, SRC, etc but as ever ,it seems nobody can see the 'bigger picture'. Live TV broadcasted across Europe - compared to highlights of the BRC a few days a later......
And no finance to back future runnings......
It'll be interesting to see the evolution of IRC in next season(s).
Quote:
Originally Posted by mousti
Can that be interpreted into that there will be no ERC/IRC merger for 2012?
Never was planned to merge in 2012 - that was /is 2013Quote:
Originally Posted by Sulland
First round is either Scotland or Irland, they are both on islands. It is very bad, because I was looking forward to see real snow IRC event and that means Arctic rally Lapland is OUT...last possibility is, that first round will be snow rally in Iceland and that reporter has bad pronunciation :D
Scotland is off for sure, Ireland isn't even confirmed. So I don't know..
The reporter is btw very experienced and his sources came for Eurosport directly, confusing stuff :D
How much I would like an event in Iceland :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by liposh