[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

[AnttiL]

It's different from country to country...

In Belgium we had WRC cars allowed 10 years ago. We had 2 people fighting for the win. Normally you could predict the complete top 5 correctly just because of the huge difference between the cars. Now without WRC cars destroying the competition, we have an average of 15 R5 cars in all BRC events, with more than 5 drivers capable of winning. All thanks to the more "reasonable" price of R5, and more equal competition. And of course thanks to having a good promotor. Most (if not all) top drivers in Belgium are driving only with sponsorship money, without own budget (or very little own budget). Right now most organizers have doubled the spectator figures compared to 10 years ago.

About the value of winning a local or national event, it's as big as the competition is. In Rallye de Wallonie few weeks ago, the difference between first and second was only 3 seconds. Last year in 5 of the 9 BRC events, the difference between first and second was less than 10s at the end of the rally. Closest win was Haspengouw with a 1,2s difference between Princen and Verschueren. With such competition, people are getting more excited and start following the sport more closely. Winning as only WRC car with 5 minutes advantage will be soon forgotten indeed...

For me it's a no-brainer, I prefer to see the WRC cars only in WRC.

You are implying that if there's a WRC car infront of the R5 cars, there won't be a competitive R5 field or no one will follow that? It's like (well a lot more than) WRC2 in WRC, people still follow that. And you also imply that people will remember details of the local rallies such as the margin or the car that the winner drove, but that people would not remember who was the fastest R5 in a tight battle behind the winning WRC?

Maybe I'm just spoiled in Finland where we have four separate championships for different classes of cars with usually intense battles in all of them and no one really cares about the rally overall results.

[AnttiL]

Allowing current WRC cars in national series is like allowing F1’s in F3 local championships; it simply doesn’t make sense.

So, allowing R2 cars in a local championship where the main class is R5 doesn't make sense either?

[tommeke_B]

You are implying that if there's a WRC car infront of the R5 cars, there won't be a competitive R5 field or no one will follow that? It's like (well a lot more than) WRC2 in WRC, people still follow that. And you also imply that people will remember details of the local rallies such as the margin or the car that the winner drove, but that people would not remember who was the fastest R5 in a tight battle behind the winning WRC?

Yes I do. The overall winner gets the headlines, having a few WRC cars means (far) less return on investment from sponsoring an R5 car.

But as I said, it's different from country to country. In Belgium the "rally culture" is completely different than in Finland.

[Tarmop]

Real fans follow their local events anyway, somehow...shallow fans don`t care about the results either, most of the time not even the driver....just the event, atmosphere etc. WRC atracts the crowds, some of whom may become real fans. In each case, where there`s people, there is publicity and where there is publicity, there is money and money buys cars, tyres, closes-repairs roads, boosts local shopkeepers, accomodation etcetc... But what goes for the headlines...it`s the 21st century, era of snowflakes, bloggers, social media and everything else "influencing"...and cheap. How many care about the companies logo on a car...in the event or in the "headlines".

[AndyRAC]

We do need the event to get more National press coverage etc however so feel a move will be a good thing its just needs a big headline sponsor as too many salaries in the promotion/organisational team to pay otherwise.

Agree. It's dwindled over the last 15+ years, for all sorts of reasons; one is that's no longer a 'National' event. The longer it's stayed in Wales, it's become a 'regional/ Welsh' event.
And, also, during this time, the pull and exposure has gone, meaning no other regions/ authorities have thrown their hat in the ring to host it. So it's suited IMS to keep going to the Welsh for funding.

In an ideal world, there would be a big money sponsor, and the event could rotate, for example every 3-5 years in a different region.
Let's be honest, the event is starting to get a bit stale with the same stages more or less, year after year.

[Rally Power]

So, allowing R2 cars in a local championship where the main class is R5 doesn't make sense either?

That’s a silly question. The point here is to establish a viable top national category and support it as the main national class. That’s what has been done with R5 cars and thanks to it most European national series have now balanced and competitive top fields. It’s not hard to understand that balance will be at risk with the introduction of hugely expensive WRC cars.

[Mirek]

You are implying that if there's a WRC car infront of the R5 cars, there won't be a competitive R5 field or no one will follow that? It's like (well a lot more than) WRC2 in WRC, people still follow that. And you also imply that people will remember details of the local rallies such as the margin or the car that the winner drove, but that people would not remember who was the fastest R5 in a tight battle behind the winning WRC?

Maybe I'm just spoiled in Finland where we have four separate championships for different classes of cars with usually intense battles in all of them and no one really cares about the rally overall results.

This is pure Finnish specific. In nearly all other countries and championships it's not like that and the overall standings is what matters the most.

Also Your example with WRC2 is wrong (or it actually proves that Tommeke was right). The number of people following WRC2 is way lower than of those following overall standings (hell, even common media don't bother with WRC2 - even in Czech Republic where one would expect them to write something about Škoda or Kopecký's successes You usually get an information that Ogier won and Kopecký was 15th without bothering with any further details).

[Tarmop]

In other topic, R4 was the saviour of top lvl national classes...
The answer is that no, there are too many championships still with 2-5 R5s per event...and others have no chanche against them. Is it unfair? Well, in a way... some local 4wd nationals have died because of R5, many are fading away, with spectators...only to be occasionally boosted by big names and/or WRC cars, also among the drivers btw.
In the end, they are still the nationals, competitions, where people with possibilities like to go to and relax from their daily responsibilites...and start again fresh at work, on Mondays.


Belgium should not be considered as an example (now), because i believe that they drive without taking part in the points scoring.

[Mirek]

In other topic, R4 was the saviour of top lvl national classes...
The answer is that no, there are too many championships still with 2-5 R5s per event...and others have no chanche against them. Is it unfair? Well, in a way...but in the end, they are the nationals, competitions, where people with possibilities like to go to and relax from their daily responsibilites...and start again fresh at work, on Mondays.

R5 class objectively has been a huge success in Europe. No top class ever before was so successful and compared to the previous attempts it managed to break through even overseas (for example in South America). You must really try to find European championships with 2 R5 cars on the start and those are from traditionally weak rally countries. Everywhere else the level of the championship grew a lot with the R5 cars.

The point is - R5 absolutely works in national championships and there is no need to fix what is not broken especially to fix it with experiments of questionable outcome.

[Tarmop]

It`s not fixing, it`s just to give people opportunities to enjoy themselves accordingly to their life. They are not competing in the same class...there`s probably only one or two around...