New R4 Car - Think Tank

[Mirek]

I remember you weren’t sure about having ’17 WRC cars and guess what; they’re the best thing it happened to WRC for ages...

The battle between the manufacturers is indeed good but every time a new rules come the initial seasons are good. We have to wait few more years to judge properly. Anyway there are not only pros. The new cars are extremely difficult to run for privateers.

The need for a 4wd entry class has been undisputed. Through R4 many importers and big dealers of brands currently not involved in rally will get the chance to join the sport, while a lot of privateers will be able to replace their aging Evo’s and Impreza’s with a interesting alternative to the used R5’s market, which in many cases wasn’t really an alternative due to R5 running costs.

With the announced price and running cost the R4 can't be called an entry class at all - and they aren't an N4 replacement either (most of the teams running N4 can't run R4 for the same money). Also the argument with new importers being able to take part isn't fully valid. If the R4 were top tier class it would but I doubt many importers are interested in placing reasonable money in a project which can bring only class victories moreover in national events. Those have very low marketing value and don't justify investments.

Also - for what is an entry 4WD class needed? I can see that the way R2 -> R5 works very fine, can't You?

I understand the need of such class in some countries where R4 would basically replace (largely non-existent) R5 not run under them.

To base a new category on a mandatory mechanical kit may eventually shock the purists, but it makes sense having in mind private tuners will have a major role on the class development and R4 isn’t supposed to be a leading category in national or international series.

I have nothing against the concept itself.

For sure there are still some reasonable doubts on R4 future, mainly due to FIA’s inability to fix a fair price for the kit (108k seems too much for what you get) and having a single worldwide supplier (which can raise availability and even reliability issues) but, hopefully, they won’t stop R4 from being a success and provide a larger range of exciting rally cars. Fingers crossed!

Yes, there's a hope, I agree. Time will tell.