Quote Originally Posted by Lundefaret View Post

In the final in RallycrossRX at Lydden Hill Petter Solberg won JUST in front of Mathias Ekstrřm, after a very close race, and it was exciting. Cant really say the same about WRC these days, and thats a pity.
Yes, because it takes place over 10-20km, as opposed to 350km; it's a cheap, manufactured excitement for an attention-deficient audience, in my opinion. If every WRC event was just held on the Shakedown stage it would be equally close, but not very exciting.

WRC events used to be won by minutes, just like Le Mans used to be win by laps. Now, both frequently cone down to a matter of seconds, yet still people want manufactured drama. The irony being that manufacturing drama doesn't work, because it becomes normal, and what used to be dramatic becomes less so, so something more extreme must be done; look at NASCAR's predicament.

WRC is attempting to manufacture drama in some ways, by messing with the road order constantly (which has arguably backfired on them three times already), but by and large it allows the best to win still, which means that the drama that does take place is actually dramatic; see Sweden this year, for an example.

The excitement I derive from this sport is watching skilful people pilot a car down a narrow, tree-lined ribbon of track with potentially disastrous consequences, each trying to do it quicker than anyone else, for whom they have no visual reference (unlike rallycross, where you can 'manage' a lead).

Sorry, a bit of a rant there. I agree with your analysis of the drivers though.