WRC Calendar 2018

[AnttiL]

As for event formats, I sadly think we're stuck with the current 'generic WRC event'; I've never been a fan of the 'one size fits all' events - and would like to see a bit more variety to events. A mix of 2, 3 and even 4+ day events. Certain events, e;g the Monte should be a long Endurance type event (as should Rally of GB), wheres you could have Corsica over 2 days.

But Tour de Corse used to be one of the longest events, not by the number of days, but by stage hours. The drivers would spend four hours on stages a day, the same amount a 1000 Lakes Rally would last in total.

Rallying was more endurance based up until the Group B ended, then it became more speed oriented. Even the "Grand Prix" event, 1000 Lakes Rally used to have just two legs until 1985, a normal Friday evening leg and then a second leg which lasted for 24 hours with only lunch and dinner breaks, driving all night with no sleep in between. I think it's fair to say that you don't race it up to the tenths of second on the last hours of that leg.

The current WRC format is most likely made to fit for TV. They want to put emphasis on the power stage. If you drive five days in the woods before the power stage, there's no reason to count the seconds anymore, everything's already decided. This season we've had even the winner being decided on the power stage, that's exactly what they want. And TV is also why all events have a more or less same timetable, they must end on Sunday afternoon. In the 80's, RAC And Monte Carlo would start on a Sunday

Rallying has also become more intense with the split times and real time following. Back in the 70's even the drivers didn't know what their position was when they entered a stage. Personally I think 2,5 days of intense split time following is a good amount, if the rallies lasted for more days or were run in the night time, I'd probably fall back to just checking the results every now and then.

At the same time, I wouldn't mind if some events were allowed to have a proper competitive day on Thursday. Like GB, Monte, TDC.