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  1. #1
    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    WRC2 Pro & WRC2 2019

    I think it's time to open a new thread for this. So far we don't even know the regulations of WRC2 Pro nor any drivers or even teams apart from Skoda's Jan Kopecky and Kalle Rovanperä. Also, it's reported that Gus Greensmith should be M-Sport's WRC2 Pro driver.

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  3. #2
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    And speculation of new manufacturer entry. Possibly Proton or VW. Then let's say that there is Skoda, Hyundai, Citroen and M-Sport in the fight, all teams will need minimum of two drivers. Three seats are already taken and many will seeking oportunities like Kajetanowicz, Gauraav, Tidemand, Camilli, Huttunen, Ingram, Veiby, Lefebvre,... (maybe even Paddon, Breen or Ostberg since their careers is uncertain at the moment).

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    Huttunen is with Hyundai and I can't see Veiby anywhere else then Citroen
    Last edited by Essaj; 5th December 2018 at 20:02.

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    Senior Member Mirek's Avatar
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    VW officially rulled out championship entry. They spoke only about selected events for promotion of the new car (several WRC events, Barum, Ypres etc.).
    Stupid is as stupid does. Forrest Gump

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    Rules announced today for WRC2 Pro are a bit meh.

    It's basically the same as WRC2 with two aditional scores counted with one being outside europe.

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    Senior Member KiwiWRCfan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RS View Post
    Rules announced today for WRC2 Pro are a bit meh.

    It's basically the same as WRC2 with two aditional scores counted with one being outside europe.
    what were you hoping for ?
    https://twitter.com/KiwiWRCfan adding a fans perspective to Twitter

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    Quote Originally Posted by RS View Post
    Rules announced today for WRC2 Pro are a bit meh.

    It's basically the same as WRC2 with two aditional scores counted with one being outside europe.
    Glad someone else thinks that. To me it's an important opportunity wasted by the Promoter, FIA and sport in general, they really should have focused on this chance to strengthen the depth of the WRC, particularly given the lack of entries in the main class next year. While I appreciate the cost ramifications, a "Pro" Championship should have followed all 14 rounds. The Promoter really should have worked hard to incentivise every current R5 manufacture to run at least two cars, particularly by offering far more comprehensive media coverage of the class. If you look at how many rallies the main 'works' (fully, semi or privately funded) WRC2 drivers did last year, many of them did around nine or ten rallies (not all WRC). With a mixture of some more manufacturer funding and private driver funding, with value being added to the Championship, is it really inconceivable that a full season couldn't be achieved?

    As it is, WRC2 Pro suffers from the same problems as WRC2, but will have fewer entries making its weaknesses all the more apparent. I don't know how you can cohesively cover this 'professional' Championship coverage wise when crews and now whole manufacturer teams are missing various random rounds and competitors for the Championship regularly don't actually compete against each other... It's a mess. If they were going to do this half arsed, they should have not bothered at all.
    Last edited by the sniper; 6th December 2018 at 04:48.

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  12. #8
    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by the sniper View Post
    Glad someone else thinks that. To me it's an important opportunity wasted by the Promoter, FIA and sport in general, they really should have focused on this chance to strengthen the depth of the WRC, particularly given the lack of entries in the main class next year. While I appreciate the cost ramifications, a "Pro" Championship should have followed all 14 rounds. The Promoter really should have worked hard to incentivise every current R5 manufacture to run at least two cars, particularly by offering far more comprehensive media coverage of the class. If you look at how many rallies the main 'works' (fully, semi or privately funded) WRC2 drivers did last year, many of them did around nine or ten rallies (not all WRC). With a mixture of some more manufacturer funding and private driver funding, with value being added to the Championship, is it really inconceivable that a full season couldn't be achieved?

    As it is, WRC2 Pro suffers from the same problems as WRC2, but will have fewer entries making its weaknesses all the more apparent. I don't know how you can cohesively cover this 'professional' Championship coverage wise when crews and now whole manufacturer teams are missing various random rounds and competitors for the Championship regularly don't actually compete against each other... It's a mess. If they were going to do this half arsed, they should have not bothered at all.
    This is just unrealistic. The promoter should have financed half season for every team?

    Rovanperä did one local rally in Germany and one in Finland in addition to 7 WRC events. Kopecky did the Czech championship, which is probably easy to obtain sponsors for, considering he's a Czech driver driving a Czech car and the reigning champion. Additionally, a WRC round is probably as expensive as 3 small one day rallies, or even more.
    Last edited by AnttiL; 6th December 2018 at 08:23.

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  14. #9
    Senior Member Mirek's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AnttiL View Post
    Rovanperä did one local rally in Germany and one in Finland in addition to 7 WRC events. Kopecky did the Czech championship, which is probably easy to obtain sponsors for, considering he's a Czech driver driving a Czech car and the reigning champion. Additionally, a WRC round is probably as expensive as 3 small one day rallies, or even more.
    Actually Škoda's Czech championship is paid from completely different sources. It's not done using Motorsport department budget but it's fully paid by marketing department of Škoda Czech Republic local office. The car is also serviced by Kopecký's own team instead of the works team. Therefore events run in CZ are largely irrelevant to whatever they do in WRC except when there is a clash of calendars.
    Last edited by Mirek; 6th December 2018 at 10:06.
    Stupid is as stupid does. Forrest Gump

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    Senior Member AnttiL's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirek View Post
    Actually Škoda's Czech championship is paid from completely different sources. It's not done using Motorsport department budget but it's fully paid by marketing department of Škoda Czech Republic local office. The car is also serviced by Kopecký's own team instead of the works team. Therefore events run in CZ are largely irrelevant to whatever they do in WRC except when there is a clash of calendars.
    Yeah, that’s what I meant to say. Rovanperä also run a private car in Monte.

    Rovanperä had a pretty extensive program in 2017 but it was an investment from his backers (Jouhki et al). Other than that it’s rare that a driver does 14 rallies a year in an R5, let alone 14 WRC events!

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