2022 WRC News & Rumours

[Eli]

Terrible same. The last best chance for a WRC rally to ever appear again in the UK seems to have gone.

They said and I quote: 'something drastic has to change in the next few weeks', it seems like you said before, if they don't get that slot next year, they won't get it back period.

[AndyRAC]

Northern Ireland couldn't run the Ulster GP, and there were funding issues for the North West 200, something the organisers were critical of; one quote was that if it was a golf tournament, the money would have been found. I dare say, a WRC rally is in the same place as the road racing events.....

However, this is all on MSUK, asleep at the wheel in regards to rallying. There was a British motorsport day at Parliament on Monday; I didn't see a rallycar, or anybody from the sport involved - apart from DR, and he was there in his MSUK role. However there were F1, BTCC, Historics, Extreme E cars present.

[Kenneth]

As I said before I think the idea of "as cheap as possible" electric car like the e-corsa is extremely boring for spectators. At minimum they need to have noticably more power than similar class petrol cars.(top speed can be limited in rules/electronically).

A Rally2 -like class similar to Baumschlagers Fabia is imo a much better idea.

Well and ICE Rally5 isn't boring?

[Eli]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/why-the-f...ers-is-enough/

FIA as in FIA rally director Andrew Wheatley thinks 4 is the sweet spot, thing is, for now we aren't seeing any interest from any other manufacturers to join the fray.

[AndyRAC]

I read that as that's the most they think they'd ever get. Four is fine if we see 3-4 cars per manufacturer, and plenty of privateers; meaning we see 15-20 Rally 1 cars. As he says, six or seven can become unsustainable as they can't all win - and some end up pulling out. We saw that in the early/mid 00's.

I'm wondering how long the WEC manages to keep all their new manufacturers in the next few years.

[Danny0405]

I also think Toyota will stay the same. Ogier +Lappi sharing should actually work. The only problem is that it gets Lappi "stuck" at only the fast rallies (a bit like Breen in Hyundai).
You'd be crazy to change Lappi for Huttunen or Ingram. Probably still a bit early for Lindholm or Rossel and Toyota does not need a new developing driver yet. Mikkelsen might be better allrounder, but not for fast gravel only. So there isn't really anyone to pick unless some massive disaster happens for Evans or Lappi.

Well, don’t really agree with you about Toyota not needing to develop a new driver.
By the end of 2023, Evans will already be 35-years-old and with some years at WRC level so it may not be that far from retirement (35yo is not very old in Rallye but with almost 10 years at Rally1 level, some drivers began to be less efficient around this period).
And Neuville and Tanak are even older and I don’t really see the point for Toyota of hiring one of them at the moment.
So clearly, beginning to find a new driver to be Rovanpera’s number 2 on long-term (as Sordo was Loeb’s one) is not a bad idea.
Lappi could be that one but he is not that young (32 yo by the beginning of next season) and considering his experience, he has to prove more than what he did in Croatia and Sardinia to keep the job in my opinion; he was a conservative logical choice for 2022 with the regulation change + Ogier’s retirement + no no-brainer choice in Rally2 but he is not an obvious pick for 2023; so Estonia-Finland will be important for him. If he does disappoint by the end of the year, Toyota will need another option and developing a driver is the best solution IMO: either a driver with already Rally1 experience to earn time (but so far, Fourmaux, Greensmith and Solberg are not really convincing, maybe Loubet depending on the end of the season) or one with no Rally1 experience (Rossel, Lindholm or, at a lower level, Ingram or Huttunen are the best option for me; Gryazin sounds complicated considering the context, all the more in a Japanese brand driven by Finnish guys, and even more because he is not that better than the other youngsters).

For me, the situation is not that different than in 2004-2005 with Rovanpera/Loeb being the next big thing and a bunch of old-generation drivers to be replaced in the next 2-3 years. And the most you anticipate, the most you have chance of succeeding on long-term (and Toyota is not in desperate need for a big driver).
Not saying Katsuta is a bad driver but a bit short for him, considering his improvement rate, to be a 2nd driver on long-term (3rd driver yes).

[mknight]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/why-the-f...ers-is-enough/

FIA as in FIA rally director Andrew Wheatley thinks 4 is the sweet spot, thing is, for now we aren't seeing any interest from any other manufacturers to join the fray.

I agree 4 or even 3,5 is fine. We have seen it in 2017-2019.

Right now we have something like 2,5.

[AnttiL]

Four to five equal teams is perfect. If a team cannot win or get podiums, it’s as good as no team

[Eli]

I agree 4 or even 3,5 is fine. We have seen it in 2017-2019.

Right now we have something like 2,5.

4 would be great, just like we had in 2017-2019, thing is now we're closer to losing another one instead of gaining another one.

[focus206]

Yes, the key is that all should be somewhat competitive. If a manufacturer is not competitive, it will just leave. Another reason why it's bad for the championship that Toyota is so dominant.
I don't think we'll ever see the 7 manufacturers from the early 2000's (even though Skoda, Hyundai and Mitsubishi WRC would see the podium through binoculars) until something drastic will change in a more or less far future, like a switch to electric.