Quote Originally Posted by wyler View Post
that's very wrong. last time i saw a live wrc event (italy 2023) a lot, really a lot of fans on site just bypassed sunday morning, 'cause it was terrible. power stage aside, other stages were dull. i must admit i was very disappointed as well, going to see a wrc takes some effort, and that was really a waste of it. i don't blame the sporting side, drivers are sensible to cruise on sunday, but sideroad it was disappointing. it was almost the feeling of a stopped stage for many drivers. i remember something like sordo down 1 min in 10 km "tyre management". when you're out to see the only live action u can get in a year, it makes huge difference to the fan base.

EDIT: to be clear, what i mean is sunday cruise was so extreme to become a problem. it was extremely visible. i don't mind cruising when it is "normal" (losing 5-10-15 sec in a stage) sideroad looks like a fast car anyway, losing 1min made the car look wrong.
You are talking about fans who go watch the event live for the weekend, which are a fraction of the fans who are following the event remotely - and the first contact that a fan has with rallysport is almost always from far away, especially in this day and age. You usually won't go from barely knowing rallying to spectating a WRC event in the blink of an eye, there's lots inbetween.
New fans or fans that are not so passionate (yet) to go to a WRC event will instead rely on highlights (almost non-existant, which is a problem), free coverage to follow some stages and have an idea how WRC works (non-existant, which is a problem) and All-Live. And I guarantee they'll ask way more often "Why only 8 cars in the top class?" than "Why are drivers going slower in the last stages of the rally?", if they can even notice drivers going slower, that is.
Hence my point: you "solve" this Sunday cruising problem and you'll see little effect on the fanbase. More people stay on the stages on Sunday morning? That's not much at all.