WRC2 Pro & WRC2 2019

[the sniper]

This is just unrealistic. The promoter should have financed half season for every team?

While I'd like to see money returned to the teams by the promoter, I doubt they're in a position to do so. What they can do is add VALUE to a second division, with coverage and such like, so that the manufactures involved can justify a relatively modest (in motorsport terms) investment in running a two car team in that second division. I don't think the promoter sees the value in anything other than the main class. I understand that somewhat, but they're putting all their eggs in one basket.

While my idea is optimistic, it's similar to the situation in 2009 and 2010 with the 'Manufacturer/WRC Teams' of Stobart M-Sport and Citroën Junior Team. I'm not saying the manufacturers needs to provide fully funded drives. A 'Hyundai MDP' team could include Huttunen and Pierre-Louis Loubet, with Loubet funding most of his drive.

What does WRC2 Pro actually provide as a platform? We'll see what the exposure is like next year, but as a development series it is far from ideal. Does a partial season, sometimes against little competition on some rounds they take part in, really prepare the like of Huttunen or Rovanpera for a full WRC drive in 2020? If you're going to bring up new talent to the WRC, at some point a manufacturer will have to be paying for them to learn all the rallies. Why pay for them to do this in an expensive WRC car rather than an R5?

I understand sniper view; if the purpose is to have a manus series, the 14 events should be mandatory and 2 cars as well. Still, I’d prefer to keep a sole WRC2 series with only 8 mandatory events, 6 of them also counting for a privateer cup (a bit like U28 inside overall ERC). Anyway, let's hope WRC2 Pro works and gets a decent exposure this time; the same for WRC2.

I'm totally with you on that. Personally I'd have structured it as:
WRC2 - 14 rounds and 2 cars mandatory, same manufacturer Championship rules as the main class (3 cars permitted, top 2 score ect). WRC2 has essentially always been a manufacturer dominated class and remains as such, retaining its clear identity.
PWRC (Privateer World Rally Cup) - Has the same rules as 2019 WRC2. A 'Cup' is a far better title for something where two competitors for a Championship can literally have never competed against each other by the time a winner is declared.
JWRC - As is.

Can’t a top private team make a deal with VW and run WRC2 Pro as a semi-works team? VW would only need to register the team entry in the series and give some tech support. That’s what Loeb’s team has been doing in the WTCR (in that case manus entries aren’t formally allowed).

Haven't VW themselves also said that their works team is available to someone who is able to fund its operation? To me this is where the promoter has a role to play again. If you look at Bernie Ecclestone as the ultimate promoter, he was all about putting deals together like pieces of a jigsaw to help his overall picture rather than just focusing on deals only directly affecting the promoter itself. As the promoter you'd want to be entertaining the likes of Lukoil, Liqui Moly, BWT and Monster Energy, having the foundations laid to allow relationships that could see a 'BWT Volkswagen Junior Team' or 'Monster Energy M-Sport'. They might not be paying the promoter directly, but they'd be benefiting from having a stronger product.