[WRC] News & rumours (part III)

[Ifox95]

Circuit of Ireland should be in wrc !!!

[eestlane]

There are no "But's" when it comes to safety. I dont care how many fans there are in Poland. The organization is appaling and sooner or later something bad is going to happen which will only have a negative impact on the sport.

If you want good roads and good organisation then Rally Estonia should swap with Poland.

China is interesting but i would put Japan instead.

Maybe we should push the sport in the States. Its a big country that we are not using at all to promote the sport.

[AndyRAC]

Poland OUT! PLEASE

I'd keep Poland in, but return the event to Tarmac; to try and have more of a 50:50 split between surfaces. However, what happens when Kubica leaves the WRC?? Will there still be the passion for it??

[tommeke_B]

There are no "But's" when it comes to safety. I dont care how many fans there are in Poland. The organization is appaling and sooner or later something bad is going to happen which will only have a negative impact on the sport.

FIA doesn't care about safety or accidents with spectators that much. Proof is there with the regulations for future WRC cars... Cars will become much faster, crowds will grow, and safety measures will remain the same until something happens.

If Rally Poland would be organized with good marshalls in stead of using clueless teenagers, 80% of the dangerous situations would have been avoided. I agree that it's difficult to find enough reliable people to fill the whole stages, but for some critical places they should have seen it coming...

All in all Poland and Estonia are too similar to Finland in my opinion. I like the idea of AndyRAC, having a tarmac rally (or mixed) could put a unique event on the calendar. The profile of tarmac roads in Polish rallies is completely different compared to the ones currently in WRC (in ERC only Barum Rally is somewhat similar).

[Simmi]

The ideal scenario for a healthy championship is to combine a calendar of classic events with rallies in key/emerging markets.

The biggest problem for me is that the format of the rallies makes them effectively interchangeable anyway. The rally will still pan out the same way, regardless of where you place it.

I'd rather see less rounds but fully formed rallies that are encouraged to be unique and to actually provide a challenge. Not just force them into a watered-down, identikit format. But honestly beyond the fans and a few journalists there doesn't really seem to be desire from any other corner to make that happen.

[Mirek]

However, what happens when Kubica leaves the WRC?? Will there still be the passion for it??

Andy, Rajd Polski (Rally Poland) is second oldest rally in the world after Monte Carlo. Rallying is definitely a lot more popular in Poland than in some WRC countries like Germany for example.

[ZoomanSP206]

All this talk about the manufacturers requesting a WRC round in China to have increased media coverage and eventually better sales in this apparently booming market made me wonder: How important is it for an event to take place in a specific country to boost sales in this country?
After all, it's just a three day event, occurring once per year, whereas the whole championship season goes on for about 11 months. I would have thought that overall media coverage over the year, resulting in repeated exposure to the viewer/reader, might be more important, and less in which country the most recent round was held. Obviously, we don't have (recent) information on that for China, but are there any studies for other countries? Or as a proxy, since that seems to be important at least for Citroën, about the impact of the WTCC round in China on Chinese coverage and sales in comparison to other WTCC rounds?

[Mirek]

How important is it for an event to take place in a specific country to boost sales in this country?

In my opinion WRC will hardly be popular in China without Chinese manufacturer and at best Chinese crew involved.

[AndyRAC]

Andy, Rajd Polski (Rally Poland) is second oldest rally in the world after Monte Carlo. Rallying is definitely a lot more popular in Poland than in some WRC countries like Germany for example.

Yes, I know; I meant, will the sponsors still want to back a WRC round without Kubica there? He seems to have helped sponsors throw their weight/ money behind the event getting back into the WRC. Notwithstanding the 2009 event.

[Francis44]

Unfortunately I have seen this film already. They introduce a round in China, and after a couple of years both the promoters and teams will be dissapointed with visibility and organization, like Japan.

Then the same old european rounds will fight for there only spot back in.