No, true, but there's plenty that can be done slightly differently even on a homologated car, even details as fine as the orientation and positioning of the spare wheels can have an influence. Also, just keeping the other teams guessing for another couple of days is worth something, even if it's just to annoy them
Discussing the position of the spare wheel was a thing 17 years ago when Focus 06 was introduced. That's the last experiment I recall.
The higher the likelihood of a larger field, the lower the likelihood of the top guys being there. And that has nothing to do with the top guys running scared.
Thing is, even with the very top guys in Rally 1 cars, there is still seem as not enough competition as the Toyota is a different level to the Hyundai & Ford.
Of course there's always been car...
I think the school of thought that we will have more competition next year due to more drivers having "equal" machienery will be quite disappointed. WRC1 drivers are in the WRC1 for a reason. The...
The higher the likelihood of a larger field, the lower the likelihood of the top guys being there. And that has nothing to do with the top guys running scared.
WRC mainclass from 2027