2024 WRC News & Rumours

[trykmann]

There have been several news about Lappi, Tänak, Suninen, Solberg and Latvala as Toyotas spokesperson giving their comments about new points system.

In conclusion their thoughts are quite the same as the majority if this community:
- The new rules are too complicated
- Difficult to understand who is the rally winner
- The rally winner should gain the largest amount of points
- The new system is not fixing the real problem about Sundays, which is just lack of competiton.

Here you can see a quite interesting interview with Teemu:
https://sport.delfi.ee/artikkel/1202...ega-ei-paranda

It should not be behind a paywall and it has English subtitles. He gives quite a good overview about the current WRC situation.

[Andre Oliveira]

"- Difficult to understand who is the rally winner"

Who said that the winner will be different than the one who complete all stages in less time (with penalties)? STOP say that bullshit of "the new rally winner doubt".

[PLuto]

"- Difficult to understand who is the rally winner"

Who said that the winner will be different than the one who complete all stages in less time (with penalties)? STOP say that bullshit of "the new rally winner doubt".

You will see...

[WRCStan]

- The new system is not fixing the real problem about Sundays, which is just lack of competiton.

So what's a better immediate idea?

[WRCStan]

You will see...

...a power stage as usual, the winning driver runs last as usual, the winner stands on the car as usual, podium ceremony as usual, flags and champagne as usual, points graphics on screen as usual and "join us in X, goodbye" as usual.

Maybe there's a couple extra points graphics than before, but there's no extra ceremony or need to interview the Saturday/Sunday/PS 'winners'.

It might not work, it might not be agreeable, it might be cancelled; but anybody pretending they don't understand who won a rally after Monte is being obstinate.

[trykmann]

"- Difficult to understand who is the rally winner"

Who said that the winner will be different than the one who complete all stages in less time (with penalties)? STOP say that bullshit of "the new rally winner doubt".

I understand how the rules work, you don't have to question me about this. My post was a conclusion about different opinions from the people on the highest level. Watch for example the interview with Teemu.

These people are not regular rally fans and if they complain about the same things, then this is not OK.

[trykmann]

So what's a better immediate idea?

Does it have to be a cheap fix? Usually problems are better solved, if you are dealing with the reasons not with the consequences. The FIA knew about this problem for many years and just before the beginning of the new season they finally sat down and tried to come up with a better solution.

If they wanted a cheap fix, then just give extra points for every stage win on Sunday and you have at least a simple solution.

[denkimi]

They could also have just made sunday longer, that would fix almost everything.
2 long day rallies, 150km per day. Friday-saturdar or saturday-sunday, with some night stages in between. And perhaps a SS the evening before.

[WRCStan]

If they wanted a cheap fix, then just give extra points for every stage win on Sunday and you have at least a simple solution.

Not radical enough IMO. 3/4/5 points to one car just isn't a game changer and there's usually only 2/3 capable of fighting for it as Teemu said. Reset the scoreboard and incentivise 5-6-7th and you've got the entertainment back.

An instant fix doesn't have to be cheap, it just has to be doable.

[seb_sh]

...a power stage as usual, the winning driver runs last as usual, the winner stands on the car as usual, podium ceremony as usual, flags and champagne as usual, points graphics on screen as usual and "join us in X, goodbye" as usual.

Maybe there's a couple extra points graphics than before, but there's no extra ceremony or need to interview the Saturday/Sunday/PS 'winners'.

It might not work, it might not be agreeable, it might be cancelled; but anybody pretending they don't understand who won a rally after Monte is being obstinate.

I don't think anyone is actually confused about who the rally winner is. I think what people mean is that it won't make sense when the rally winner gets fewer points than 3rd place for example. It might be fine for most rallies but I think we'll have a few awkward ones next year, there is a disonance between the result and the reward. Giving points for Sunday would have achieved the same goal. Ending the rally on Saturday and having Sunday Super Sprint would have worked as well. Both would have been more straightforward. That's the point.

About the coverage, I'm not sure it's going to be as straightforward. On Sunday they may focus on the leg standings as that's what actually gives out points. During the powers stage there are 3 relevant standings: PS itself which gives points, Sunday leg which gives points and Rally Overall which doesn't give points but determines the winner. Afterwards a fourth classification is relevant for the biggest points reward: Saturday standings but only the cars that finished the rally. I tried to imagine Becsy and Porter trying to make heads and tails of everything, I'm eagerly awaiting to hear it live