Quote Originally Posted by focus206 View Post
One has to be careful playing with BoP. Ideally, it should level the field a bit, like it does in GT World Challenge. But in FIA championships such as WEC and WTCR it's often horrible, and it swings considerable advantages each round. For example in WEC, it often led to Ferrari being clearly the better car in rounds 1, 3, 5 etc. and Porsche being clearly the better car in rounds 2, 4, 6 etc.
GTWC and GT3 in IMSA and NLS also had issues for a while, both with their process and competitors gaming the system. They gradually got better over time. They also mandated more sensors so they can detect sandbagging. There are some articles and interviews in Race car engineering magazine about the details.

No system is perfect but from a viewer point of view I prefer BOP to an arms race that ends up in escalating cost and teams leaving. I think that's the fundamental difference in the current wave of manufacturers interest in WEC and F1. Specifically the costs are way more predictable and in the case of WEC you are almost guaranteed to have a shot at victory. So the cost/benefit is pretty good especially due to Le Mans in WEC's case. The race is already sold out since December and they are building more stands and will probably issue more tickets.

The WRC needs better promotion and some form of more direct cost limitation to improve the ROI and some manufacturers will come. Capping testing is easily overcome. I could see a type of WEC BOP working. For those that don't know the, part of the WEC BOP is a mandated "performance window" of aero efficiency. They put the cars in a wind tunnel and there's a limit of how good a car can be. From the purist perspective it's horrible and artificial. From the viewer it means the teams can design interesting and different cars, just compare the Peugeot with the Ferrari for an example. Another way to go would be a Dakar type Equivalence of Technology and allow free drivetrain choice. Hybrids, EVs and Fuel Cell could compete. I think that's a bit further away. There are complaints about the EOT sure, but the alternative is people shrugging and saying we can't compete with X they have a huge budget and we can't keep up.

The WRC is not doing that bad, 5 drivers and 3 cars have won rallies in the last two years but it's on thin ice. What if MSport falls behind again and Hyundai go to F1? Do we watch Toyota sweep a few years clean or do we fall back to Rally2? Or do we have some plan? That's what WRC management should be asking themselves.