[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

[denkimi]

So many years and failed attempts have passed and yet still someone believes that it's possible to reduce the championship cost by technical regulations.

I tell you one thing. The championship cost is a mirror of its own value. The better the championship is the more the teams can spend and the worse it is the less they spend. It's that simple and the technical regulations have very little to do with it.

You can't reduce the amount of money people want to spend, but you can reduce the amount of money that is needed to build a competitive car and race it.

But most of the easy solutions have already been implemented. Outlawing exotic materials, limitations on testing and tyres, no mobile service, ...

If msport can do it with a limited budget, others can do it too. They just choose not to.

[Mirek]

That's the problem with R5... cheap enough for the businessman or his kid but not cheap enough for the young prospect.

Most national rally entries now have a couple of fast driver's and a load of guys just having fun as a hobby.

R4 anyone ?

R5 is something completely different because it is not the top level of the sport. Whatever else than WRC works in a different way because it's not a battle of gigantic global companies which can spend whatever is worth it. In fact in case of R5 the rules really managed to successfully limit the cost and moreover to keep it for many years (in this case it's a huge achievement of FIA).

I'd say that R5 works perfectly. There are tons of them everywhere including UK and it's more and more of them every year. Motorsport has always been about money and will always be. You can't create a situation in this sport where money plays no role. If You want to see where people with zero money can get on the top level follow football. It works there.

R4 will likely never work in Europe. For being a competitor for R5 they are too slow and for being a healthy second level they are too expensive.

[Rally Power]

R4 will likely never work in Europe. For being a competitor for R5 they are too slow and for being a healthy second level they are too expensive.

Pryce proved in Granada that R4 cars can be fast and they're actually cheaper than a R5 (to buy and, especially, to mantain). Some guys may be tempted to use them if they are allowed to run on a separated class from R5's. Besides, they also can motivate big dealers and even importers of brands with no rally cars currently homologated.

R4 has potencial, even in Europe, but somehow Oreca doesn't seem eager to promote it: despite being homologated since June, the only R4 entry (Granada) was due to their spanish partner, ASM Team...

[Mirek]

Wishful thinking. We can speak about it again next year by this time.

Of course they are cheaper but they are not cheaper enough. Old R5 are even cheaper and nobody buys them. Guess why? Because they are slow. That's the simple reason. Why do you think everybody buys Polo R5 like crazy no matter what it costs? Because it's fast car and that's what motorsport is about. Not about saving 10% or 20% for having a handicap right from the start line.

[Rally Power]

You’re missing a point: if R4’s run on a separated class from R5’s, they don’t need to be as fast as those! Guys with a lower budget will prefer to fight for a R4 class win than struggling to stand up in the middle of 15 or 20 R5’s.

You should look here http://www.rmcmotorsport.es/ to see how the Spanish tuner RMC is promoting N5 (similar to R4) in Spain. N5 is based on Argentina’s Maxi Rally (actually RMC imports a large number of parts from Baratec) and despite being slower than a R5 and having only national homologation it’s selling pretty well, once they’re cheaper and run on a separated class from R5’s; besides RMC is doing a proper job promoting them (there’s even a national N5 Cup).

Everybody recognizes that there’s room for a lower 4wd class and it’d be much more interesting to see it spreading as an international FIA category, in R4 form, than having each country trying their own national proto class, like it’s now starting to happen.

[Tarmop]

You need R4 classes in top levels, to create somekind of a market and use for them. For nationals it`s too expensive, those who have the money, go for a R5 or even WRC, those with less use A`s/N`s, modify them to protos etc or drive less and do it with a (rental) R5 ...and drive faster and fight for overall places.

[Mirek]

You’re missing a point: if R4’s run on a separated class from R5’s, they don’t need to be as fast as those! Guys with a lower budget will prefer to fight for a R4 class win than struggling to stand up in the middle of 15 or 20 R5’s.

You should look here http://www.rmcmotorsport.es/ to see how the Spanish tuner RMC is promoting N5 (similar to R4) in Spain. N5 is based on Argentina’s Maxi Rally (actually RMC imports a large number of parts from Baratec) and despite being slower than a R5 and having only national homologation it’s selling pretty well, once they’re cheaper and run on a separated class from R5’s; besides RMC is doing a proper job promoting them (there’s even a national N5 Cup).

Everybody recognizes that there’s room for a lower 4wd class and it’d be much more interesting to see it spreading as an international FIA category, in R4 form, than having each country trying their own national proto class, like it’s now starting to happen.

No, I don't miss anything. If they are intended for their own lower class than they must be way cheaper than they are. What you say is that R4 is basically an overpriced gr.N replacement. But that alone is a receipt for disaster. The reason is simple - the amount of money available very much depends on where you are on the overall standings. Good luck with finding sponsors who can fund you let's say 80% of R5 budget but don't care about overall results.

[Allez Andruet]

The reason is simple - the amount of money available very much depends on where you are on the overall standings. Good luck with finding sponsors who can fund you let's say 80% of R5 budget but don't care about overall results.

Exaggerating: so the R4 guys will take all the sponsorship money away from R2 drivers?

[dupanton]

Exaggerating: so the R4 guys will take all the sponsorship money away from R2 drivers?

No No No, you don't understand.
The point is, that you will need a lot of budget to fight for "only" a class win. Overall you can't do much. It's easier to find a bit more money if you can challenge for overall win.
Fe, let's say you need 100.000 for a program with an R5 car and 75.000 for the same program with an R4. It will be easier to find that 100.000 as you challenge for the overall win. You get much more return than for a class win.

That's the reason R3 is dead. Too expensive and you only fight for class win. R4 will be even more expensive, so I think Mirek is right.

[Rally Power]

No, I don't miss anything. If they are intended for their own lower class than they must be way cheaper than they are. What you say is that R4 is basically an overpriced gr.N replacement. But that alone is a receipt for disaster. The reason is simple - the amount of money available very much depends on where you are on the overall standings. Good luck with finding sponsors who can fund you let's say 80% of R5 budget but don't care about overall results.

The price difference isn’t just 20%, it’s about 30% (Oreca made a discount over the kit initial price) and that’s a lot of money. A R4 can be bought for 160k while a R5 costs over 230k (I bet a Polo costs much more…); running costs difference is even bigger as R4 engine is almost stock and once the cars are built locally there’s no need for expensive rebuilds on the manu official tuners, like in R5. Besides, we shouldn’t mix R4/R5 target costumers; R5 will always be used by top national and international drivers and teams, while R4 purpose is to give amateurs a change to replace their aging N4 cars and also provide R2 young drivers a more affordable option to keep their careers moving forwards.

There’s a market for R4, both in national and international series, but the FIA has made a terrible choice launching R4 through a single supplier; after all the delays and the kit initial price, Oreca is still failing to promote R4 in a proper way. That’s a shame.