2023 WRC News & Rumours

[EstWRC]

Ah yes. I guess that’s what they mean

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Such a pity that Tanak didnt come back to M-Sport earlier and help develop the Puma for his driving style.

Changing the team direction and having another top driver already in residence was never going to be easy at Hyundai.

[Eli]

Such a pity that Tanak didnt come back to M-Sport earlier and help develop the Puma for his driving style.

Changing the team direction and having another top driver already in residence was never going to be easy at Hyundai.

Would’ve been nice seeing him & Breen in M-Sport last year but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

[meh]

Such a pity that Tanak didnt come back to M-Sport earlier and help develop the Puma for his driving style.

Changing the team direction and having another top driver already in residence was never going to be easy at Hyundai.

My understanding is that Tänak went to Hyundai to be able to be important part of building new car for his liking but Hyundai as a team failed big time during that process so it was wasted time for him.

And at the moment - Tänak is "too confident" in the interview and say out that he wants to continue (compare with last year) - so I guess the actual deal is done or really close to it. But what the deal is - I have no idea.

[Duvel]

Have you been in Rally Estonia? We have stage that even team members can go and spectate, we had even tanks in Service. Rally start was ca 15 min walk in in city center with good bands, big show and everything. Its all there, + huge crowds. Unfortunately this rally is not in calendar for next year. There are a few more good examples (Finland, Mexico, Argentina, Sardegna (Alghero), Ypres, maybe Japan). But in many places we are in the middle of no-where, like in Lamia (ideal spot would have been Kamena Vuorla), Turkey, Germany, GB (last editions), Kenya, Croatia, Spain, Gap, Umea, Porto (so, so), etc.

Never been to Estonia, but good to hear they do it like that there! Finland is like you say also good example.

[denkimi]

The long days without service isnt right and its reducing the chances of crews continuing when there are already a low number of Rally 1 cars.

The Teams and mechanics also need to be made part of the story. Like in F1 where the bèst pit stops, running repairs and strategy are an important factor in the races.

I agree. What could be small problems become big problems because there is no more service to fix them. It has taking much of the old heroism away, there's no more point to try and get to the end of a stage on 3 wheels or something similar after an accident since there's nobody there to help you anymore.

Midday service should be the least.

[denkimi]

The thing is that WRC is in a vicious circle. It kind of needs to go electric (and the manufacturers want that) but in the same time it can't.

Anyway the WRC shall finally get rid of manufacturer homologations and allow privately developed cars. That could keep the sinking ship afloat for quite some time.

It doesn't need to go electric. It doesn't even needed to go hybrid.

All it needs to do is put on some fancy names and stickers saying green, blue, electric,...
It's all just a facade for the manufacturers anyway, so why even bother to make it real?
The actual fans don't care about it, and the people that really do care about it hate motorsport anyway.

It's nothing but greenwashing towards those that know nothing about the sport.

[Eli]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/what-...ropolis-visit/

Talking a lot without saying anything, spoken like a true politician.
I honestly don’t know why they aren’t doing a global fans survey like they did back in 2014, boggles the mind.

[Sal yet again]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/what-...ropolis-visit/

Talking a lot without saying anything, spoken like a true politician.
I honestly don’t know why they aren’t doing a global fans survey like they did back in 2014, boggles the mind.

There is a quote allegedly attributed to one of our most famous/infamous politicians Winston Churchill which could be paraphrased for WRC Fan surveys " The best argument against Democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”. I've seen some of the survey responses in the past and most of them seemed to be divided between events in the responders home country and bringing Group B back!

I think we are at a low ebb with the current promoter when it comes to fan satisfaction which I think is a mistake however you would like to hope between the FIA, the manufacturers and the crews that they would be able to have some realistic and constructive input. Its times like this that I miss CB42 more than ever as his was the type of "fanboy" enthusiasm that needs to be harnessed.

[Eli]

There is a quote allegedly attributed to one of our most famous/infamous politicians Winston Churchill which could be paraphrased for WRC Fan surveys " The best argument against Democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”. I've seen some of the survey responses in the past and most of them seemed to be divided between events in the responders home country and bringing Group B back!

I think we are at a low ebb with the current promoter when it comes to fan satisfaction which I think is a mistake however you would like to hope between the FIA, the manufacturers and the crews that they would be able to have some realistic and constructive input. Its times like this that I miss CB42 more than ever as his was the type of "fanboy" enthusiasm that needs to be harnessed.

If I recall correctly when they did the survey back in 2014 it resulted with the 2017 cars which were pretty awesome imho and everybody loved (for the most part), and for now some of the FIA & Promoter's ideas seem ridiculous.