Quote Originally Posted by AnttiL View Post

I think you said it yourself. And we've seen the same happening in WRC2 in the past years when Skoda Motorsport was practically unbeatable with the amounts of testing they were able to do, find the perfect settings and give seat time to the drivers. Even with "equal" machinery, the factory drivers will always have an advance.
Yes but the difference would not be 15+ minutes at rally end. And most important : If you make a mistake and lose a few minutes, you end up down the order, not a guaranteed top 6. As I said, top teams and top drivers would always be at the forefront, but other could mix it up here and there. What we have today is 8 Rally1 starters = top 8 positions (unless you retire), even if you are a midfield driver with cash (Greensmith, Loubet, ...) - which is pretty boring.

The quintessence of rallying is (i) using everyday's roads (ii) everyone, from the top professional to the true amateur, competing on "equal" footing, e.g. doing the same events, same stages etc .. Rallying history is full of surprizing performances, privately entered) cars (see, from the top of my head, Alen, RAC 73, Airrikkala RAC 75, "Tony" San Remo 79)