Route announced for Rally GB 2020!

[AndyRAC]

Going back to what might have been this year, while it might have been a challenge, the Sunday leg seems to me increasingly like it would have been a massive missed opportunity. That could have been a great opportunity to let Rally GB make a far greater impact on a much wider population, when this could have been one of the few remaining opportunities to sell rallying to the wider public and sponsors. Time is running out for Rally GB, playing it safe is ultimately killing the sport here anyway, so why not put ones neck out?

I think that is the issue. It really doesn't make a great impact on the general public/ mainstream sporting media. Playing it 'safe' isn't really doing anything to help grow the event/ sport. And this has a knock on effect; the lack of interested big money backers - whether that be a major commercial sponsor or regional/tourist board.

One final thought; during the event's heyday, I suspect it didn't matter whether the event was in the WRC or not - it was still a massive event. Now it's run for the benefit of the WRC; no WRC, no event.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

That is spot-on. The WRC is for the manufacturers and sponsors nowadays and has gone increasingly this way over the years and even more so since the 2017- cars came in.

New countries and rallies have to beg to join in and do whatever the promoter says. But this is the same even for the classic events.

The costs of the latest-spec cars have also killed off the local entry in the top class compared to just a decade ago. No 'local hero' fighting the WRC big boys reduces the attraction of WRC to the general public in that country.

[AnttiL]

The costs of the latest-spec cars have also killed off the local entry in the top class compared to just a decade ago. No 'local hero' fighting the WRC big boys reduces the attraction of WRC to the general public in that country.

When was the last time this actually happened? (I mean, before Suninen in Finland 2017 on the 2017 car)

[Fast Eddie WRC]

When was the last time this actually happened? (I mean, before Suninen in Finland 2017 on the 2017 car)

Østberg in Sweden with Adapta/Prokop.

[AnttiL]

Østberg in Sweden with Adapta/Prokop.

Did he challenge for the win? Also, it happened with the 2017 cars. Did it ever happen with the previous generation cars?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

2016 Rally Mexico - Benito Guerra.

Maybe not challenging, but he brought a big local audience to watch him in a WRC car.

Others like Prokop, Bertelli & Gorban were often on events even if they werent locals. It all added to the entry and was good for fans to see.

[denkimi]

When was the last time this actually happened? (I mean, before Suninen in Finland 2017 on the 2017 car)

Duval in germany 2007 comes to mind.

It hasn't happened a lot, because even if you somehow would be able to get the same car as the factory drivers, those people have all the data. They do all the testing, they practically live in their car.

Even suninen wasn't a true privateer. He was driving a factory run car. It wasn't his, it wasn't rented from someone else, it was basicaly a tryout sold/given to him by malcolm.

[SubaruNorway]

Did he challenge for the win? Also, it happened with the 2017 cars. Did it ever happen with the previous generation cars?

Østberg in Rally Sweden 2011 6.5sec behind Hirvonen

[AnttiL]

2016 Rally Mexico - Benito Guerra.

Maybe not challenging, but he brought a big local audience to watch him in a WRC car.

Others like Prokop, Bertelli & Gorban were often on events even if they werent locals. It all added to the entry and was good for fans to see.

I think these guys should just go to WRC2, competitionally they're just in no-man's land driving a WRC car miles behind the factory cars. Besides, Bertelli does own his own WRC 2017 car.

Had it not been for COVID-19, we would have seen this year Jocius, Latvala, Loubet and Paddon with a number of starts in a WRC car.

Last year we had Grönholm doing his anniversary event, Virtanen in Finland, Paddon doing two unlucky non-starts. Before that Serderidis, Kremer, ...

[Co-driven]

2016 Rally Mexico - Benito Guerra.

Maybe not challenging, but he brought a big local audience to watch him in a WRC car.

Others like Prokop, Bertelli & Gorban were often on events even if they werent locals. It all added to the entry and was good for fans to see.

Also Marcos Ligato (DS3) and Gabriel Pozzo (Fiesta) with WRC in Rally Argentina a few years ago.