[WRC] News & Rumours 2021

[Steve Boyd]

N.Ireland confident for 2022:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/55593652

Rally GB is run by IMS - the event management arm of Motorsport UK. Bobby Willis has his own management outfit. Is he bidding against IMS or has he got an agreement with them?

[er88]

Rally GB is run by IMS - the event management arm of Motorsport UK. Bobby Willis has his own management outfit. Is he bidding against IMS or has he got an agreement with them?

Not sure, I'd imagine maybe some sort of agreement? Thing is, not sure the FIA care who runs it, as long as they get their money.

IMS are a bit of a joke though - they've got themselves in this mess of having no British round, despite the WRC actively wanting a rally here.

Scotland was long mooted to take over from Wales from the powers at be - even before Scotland even hosted the IRC between 2009-2011. Fantastic stages, the British round would stay in it's natural home in the forests, and the plan was to have Scotland run an IRC event for a good few years before naturally progressing to WRC status once the infrastructure/ organisation was solid.

However IMS killed that event before it even started, due to running it a week or two apart from the Colin McRae stages ( a scottish national event which was also based in Perthshire and used some of the same stages), not including it as part of the British rally championship (hence the woeful lack of local support in terms of entry), very poor promotion and also running the event around the same time of year as Wales Rally GB (lots of national drivers raised the point they could only afford to do one of the two major rallies).

So now when IMS/ Motorsport UK desperately need regional funding from the likes of the Scottish government, they get laughed out the door. And they've been trying for years apparently.

Losing Rally GB from the calendar was my biggest fear in terms of British rallying, because once it's out it's so hard to get back in. And frankly I don't trust the people running it to get "our" round back. Granted, we might get an odd year of an Irish round that Motorsport UK can champion, but it needs a place on the mainland and back in the forests. Scotland would be perfect running out of Perthshire/Stirling, with all the possibilities of a glasgow street stage, or some spectator friendly running at Knockhill, or you could even use stages around the borders and cross into England if you want to go down that route.

Now Wales' appetite has lessened, Motorsport UK/IMS are stuck. But this was on the cards for years - and still no progress has been made. The only reason Ireland is/was an option was because of Bobby Willis, not any of the goons at Motorsport UK who have let British rallying sleepwalk into this state.

[masa90]

Any news about replacement for Rally Sweden? Is there any chance of that happening?

[pantealex]

Any news about replacement for Rally Sweden? Is there any chance of that happening?

Wednesday is probably news day ...

Stay positive!

[EstWRC]

Wednesday is probably news day ...

Stay positive!

what?

definitely stay negative but have positive mind

[TypeR]

Rally Estonia's press conference also on Wednesday..
Maybe they will co-organise/help the event in Finland..?

[mknight]

That just a render I think, not the real deal, so no need to discuss the aero on the car!

He tested it on his pre-monte test in exactly this configuration.

[masa90]

Wednesday is probably news day ...

Stay positive!

Hah ok, gonna save the rest of my "summerholidays" for a bit then. Would be great to see my second wrc rally at snow ! Would make it easier to wait for the summer and Norf!

[dimviii]

RallySport Magazine
@RallySportMag
New sponsor, new livery coming for Toyota

[bwallace]

DMG MORI was TGZ sponsor and earlyer but not title like microsoft