WRC main class in 2025

[focus206]

Mentioning SRO's products in the same context as any other motorsport series is an absolute mess.
They are rich gentleman series with zero spectators and the bare minimum of media coverage on youtube just so the rich guys can show their mates and feel like proper race car drivers... Most of their races are lucky to get 200k viewers in total. And that's basically the entire audience....

are the rich gentlemen the best GT drivers of the world such as Marciello, Vanthoor, Gounon, Engel, Stolz, Bortolotti, Caldarelli etc? The WEC GT class could only dream such competition in the past years and apart from Estre, Pier Guidi and maybe Makowiecki, the other WEC factory drivers were not on that level at all.
bare minimum of media coverage? They stream everything for free... what should we say about WRC, or WEC, or the old WTCR? All world championships of their category, and yet...

[ouvreur]

You are an ignorant fool....SRO series have been some of the best motorsport in the last 10 years. Take your WRC tinted glasses off for a change.....

Regardless of the quality, if so many rich gentlemen are falling over themselves to spend money with SRO, they must be doing something right, all the more so if that is happening with 'zero spectators' and 'bare minimum of media coverage'. Rallying could do with learning lessons there.

[rallyfiend]

It can be the greatest motorsport in the world.

No one knows because no one is watching it...

I would never deny the problems with WRC, but I think SRO is not the best comparison.

[Mirek]

I would never deny the problems with WRC, but I think SRO is not the best comparison.

Sorry for my ignorance but what is SRO?

[Mirek]

That's good point Mirek, it's not just about some cost/return ration but also about the total value. Personally I advocate in favor of privateers and more cars for some reasons like having a wider selection of potential drivers. But to clarify my position, I don't think the solution is found only in the technical regulations.

The problem with privateer-oriented series is that they bring an order of magnitude lesser money to the series hence why if WRC decides to ignore the manufacturers and go full privateer it will disappear as a major motorsport. With the manufacturer's money gone the all live production will be gone, the major global sponsors will be gone, after that the state-funding will be largely gone and we will end with another ERC because nobody will go outside Europe anyway.

For me the WRC can survive only with the manufacturers. Still the series shall allow private tuners to homologate their cars. Now when we have the spaceframes there is not even a need to pretend that such car represents any manufacturer. They can run under their own banner like in Dakar.

[seb_sh]

The problem with privateer-oriented series is that they bring an order of magnitude lesser money to the series hence why if WRC decides to ignore the manufacturers and go full privateer it will disappear as a major motorsport. With the manufacturer's money gone the all live production will be gone, the major global sponsors will be gone, after that the state-funding will be largely gone and we will end with another ERC because nobody will go outside Europe anyway.

For me the WRC can survive only with the manufacturers. Still the series shall allow private tuners to homologate their cars. Now when we have the spaceframes there is not even a need to pretend that such car represents any manufacturer. They cun run under their own banner like in Dakar.

Besides Dakar, WRX is another example where it's a mix of works or semiworks, plus some independent tuners and some private teams.

Indeed it has to be more open both for independents building cars and in my opinion also allow smaller teams to run cars as it happened until 2017. For some reason at that point they decided to be a closed shop. I think that's a mistake... As for going full private I'm not sure that's the solution for WRC, even if there are examples where it works. The WRC needs to find their own path. Unfortunately I feel they are too closed minded to find something but we'll see.

[HKSjbg]

Sorry for my ignorance but what is SRO?

Stephane Ratel Organisation

[Duvel]

Besides Dakar, WRX is another example where it's a mix of works or semiworks, plus some independent tuners and some private teams.

Indeed it has to be more open both for independents building cars and in my opinion also allow smaller teams to run cars as it happened until 2017. For some reason at that point they decided to be a closed shop. I think that's a mistake... As for going full private I'm not sure that's the solution for WRC, even if there are examples where it works. The WRC needs to find their own path. Unfortunately I feel they are too closed minded to find something but we'll see.

Works teams, whit satelite teams.

Like Hyundai whit 2C competition, or redgrey

In the past there was Msport, and than Stobart, and Munchi's for example.

Whit more cheap cars, i can see this happening again!

[macebig]

WRC needs to disengage themselves from manufacturers. They were never the driving force behind the championship until recently. It was always individuals pushing the sport ahead and not corporate. Hell, it's still true today. Without Malcolm Wilson and Akio Toyoda, there is no WRC as we currently know it.

[WRCStan]

WRC needs to disengage themselves from manufacturers. They were never the driving force behind the championship until recently. It was always individuals pushing the sport ahead and not corporate. Hell, it's still true today. Without Malcolm Wilson and Akio Toyoda, there is no WRC as we currently know it.

There is only a WRC because of manufacturers. At times where it should have disappeared, the privateer and promoter stood in for brief periods. That should not be the dream destination.