WRC main class in 2025

[fiscorpun]

A Le Mans win is greater than anything, nothing offers more marketing potential. It is the biggest sporting event in the world full stop.

Mate, sorry, but thats just wrong.
An F1 title is the biggest (prestigious/marketing tool) thing out there AND I'd almost bet that any F1 race has a bigger global audience reach than LeMans or Indy500 or Dakar.....

[Kenneth]

A LMDh is much cheaper than a Hypercar, but it's still quite expensive.

A 963 costs 2.5 million euros, and a season costs 10 million euros.

I'm not saying that WRC should use LeMans prototype. I'm saying that Rally1 should get inspiraction from the the semi spec way of how teams can get into WEC.

Oreca kit didn't cost 2.5 milion either.

[becher]

Mate, sorry, but thats just wrong.
An F1 title is the biggest (prestigious/marketing tool) thing out there AND I'd almost bet that any F1 race has a bigger global audience reach than LeMans or Indy500 or Dakar.....

No it's not, it is the biggest sporting event overall in the world, not just motorsport. According to non motorsport publications that is, so no pro bias there.

The marketing reach of participating in F1 might be bigger because F1 is in the head of even non motorsport people, but those people thought Renault built the cars for Red Bull in their 2010-2013 championship run.... But winning in F1 is not that much of a big marketing tool, winning Le Mans is a very simple and powerful tool for car manufacturers.

[fiscorpun]

No it's not, it is the biggest sporting event overall in the world, not just motorsport.
.

World Cup finals, Olimpics, NBA, NFL SuperBowl, Uefa Champions....?

[fiscorpun]

The marketing reach of participating in F1 might be bigger because F1 is in the head of even non motorsport people, but those people thought Renault built the cars for Red Bull in their 2010-2013 championship run.... But winning in F1 is not that much of a big marketing tool, winning Le Mans is a very simple and powerful tool for car manufacturers.

And still "people think renault built red bull cars" and they know lewis, vettel, alonso, raikkonen... Even button and max.
Ask people who won LeMans in 2018.
The answer is probably just "What?"
Theres no way LeMans is all of that mate.. its like indycar fans saying the Indy500 is the biggest and most important race of the planet or Nascar fans saying that the race in Charlotte (? I guess?) is the biggest race on the planet.

People know MERCEDES and Ferrari because of F1... People dont even know the word* "WEC". Sorry
Not trying to bashing u, mate. I dont speal english very well so that may have sounded rude. Not my intention

[Jarek Z]

No it's not, it is the biggest sporting event overall in the world, not just motorsport.

I like your enthusiasm, but I think you are a little too optimistic

[seb_sh]

No it's not, it is the biggest sporting event overall in the world, not just motorsport. According to non motorsport publications that is, so no pro bias there.

The marketing reach of participating in F1 might be bigger because F1 is in the head of even non motorsport people, but those people thought Renault built the cars for Red Bull in their 2010-2013 championship run.... But winning in F1 is not that much of a big marketing tool, winning Le Mans is a very simple and powerful tool for car manufacturers.

I'll add to the choir saying you've got your wires crossed. What's the source saying this? Perhaps they are just referring to spectators on site? I heard 325.000 this year. But that's not that important, F1 has way more marketing value.

[rallyfiend]

No it's not, it is the biggest sporting event overall in the world, not just motorsport. According to non motorsport publications that is, so no pro bias there.

The marketing reach of participating in F1 might be bigger because F1 is in the head of even non motorsport people, but those people thought Renault built the cars for Red Bull in their 2010-2013 championship run.... But winning in F1 is not that much of a big marketing tool, winning Le Mans is a very simple and powerful tool for car manufacturers.

Ok, now you're just making stuff up. I agree that any one F1 event probably has a bigger TV audience than all of Le Mans, and even the Australian F1 event had more spectators just earlier this year....

[doubled1978]

It isn’t a who has got the biggest you know what competition. The WEC is overall a small series than WRC globally, but it does have the jewel in the crown of Le Mans, which does offer fantastic marketing potential. Le Mans also has the benefit of the brand being the headline maker, not the driver.
Whatever to picture, the WEC/Le Mans and sportscars globally have done a great job in attracting OEM’s to the competition, WEC alone will have 8 factory teams (not including the independents) competing next season, and Honda/Acura also have a car that could enter should they decide to do so.
We need to ask why? Is it the pull of Le Mans?
The cost is clearly much lower than previously, and the hybrid element of the cars is not anything like as technically advanced as LMP1, indeed it isn’t even a performance item as the hybrid power replaces engine power when it activates rather than adding to the overall power as in WRC or LMP1 previously. I’ve seen an interview with the Peugeot Team Principal and he described the hybrid systems in Hypercar as ballast.

For me, WRC has gone down a hole with these very expensive cars that WEC did with the hybrid LMP1 cars. For WRC to become attractive, the cost

[denkimi]

The only way to make the sport cheaper is to have only 1 manufacturer. Then they can spend the minimum and still win.
As soon as you have multiple, the cost will always be what they think the value of winning is. So as long as toyota and Hyundai want to spend 100 million or so per season to be able to day they are wrc champions, the others will have to do the same to keep up.
Even if you would downsize to rally2 cars, they will still spend roughly the same amount if that is what it takes to win. But while doing so they will also make rally2 way more expensive than it is today if you want to be at the front.

It's all down to how much marketing value a sport has, and nothing else. That why nobody cares about football when women are playing.