Quote Originally Posted by WRCStan View Post
They don't have to give up any markets. They just have to contribute something by turning up to WRC. They don't have to win or beat TGR to get anything, I don't propose anything conditional on results. So they could even turn that into a marketable opportunity, sending in some willing pay drivers who pootle round as has always been the case. Might even attract some sponsorship! However, you're right, winning a WRC rally or championship is a good way to flog rally cars, so there's this incentive to push.

But crucially for me, those types of consumer-series car names are not the future, there's no link anymore so why restrict it to them? It's why the FIA are pivoting away from and opening up rally to the motorsport companies - the tuners. Say the manufacturers championship standings could be, and the makes seen in all the national championships in 10 years time are:

1. Toyota GR
2. LifeLive
3. Prodrive
4. M-Sport
5. Paddonsport
6. Oreca
7. Lancia
8. Pastrana Subaru
9. Stohl
10. MEM
11. ....etc...

Maybe it doesn't end up working like this, or it does but is not a success. But it is a nice possibility to believe in. We're here in "WRC mainclass" so your thoughts on the success of R5/Rally2 aside, how do you get entries into the WRC mainclass? If there is a higher tuned WRC car where nobody was forced to do it, who do you realistically see willing to compete against Toyota in 2027? The promoter wants out so we can assume they don't want to back anybody, although with the cheaper cars they might. So at best it'd still be two teams chasing Toyota in the way Hyundai and M-Sport do now.

1. Toyota GR * 4/5 cars
2. M-Sport * 2 cars
3. FIA Rallystar * 2 cars

We're here now and they're wanting to get away from it. Nobody here even wants that, do they?
er. it's the same thing i was saying all along.

u made a list of basically 1 manufacturer and some tuners. i was exactly saying that manufactures will not invest in this model of top championship. they will not enter for charity, for helping the series or making it more interesting for fans. for them interesting = making more money than invested (and selling car is not the point anymore, the point is all about marketing, brand visibility, reputation. sadly, rally does not have the right stats for this atm)

it's quite clear that the main idea of fia/promoter is to move the championship from manufacturers to privateers to increase the numbers, 'cause they are not able to generate enough interest in the wrc series to make big manufacturers invest money in it for -basically- marketing returns.
but rally is a sport and not an enterprise, so is totally ok to move to lower money to have more participants at the cost of leveling down the sport and the show. maybe a bit harsh for long-time fans, but ok.

that way, manufacturers will not use their name -aka brand identity, credibility, reputation- for this. they are ok with this rally2 model in which they sell car to others but not compete directly. if u force them into first-hand competition, they'll leave. That's the market that's giving up. And that's why we don't have any news about the new pyramid for '27 on, cause they're looking for a solution to not disrupt regional rally with the new wrc reg. why they did not simply go to rally2 for '27? because manus said no. hiunday + toyota to not lose "eliteness" for the brand. skoda, stellantis, renault to not enter this competition market.

wrc need a mainclass that is attractive in term of selling tv shows, selling merchandise, increase brand visibility on media (social and traditional). generate revenue for the participants. in the same way of f1, or nba or football. or any other sport.

u can choose to go the manufacturers way, or go to the privateers way. i'm not here to say what's right or wrong. i'm just saying that's hard to stay in the middle as they did before. (wrc for marketing/eliteness and regional rally for selling cars) let's see the new era!

lancia is a good example. their sport director said to italian media: rally 4 is just a little marketing test for the brand visibility. if lancia flag will appear enough around the world and the media, then maybe the board will give green light to a rally2 step, but for now, we are just testing if motorsport is responding enough for invest in it. 100+ car produced is a good start to harald the brand, he said.

let's hope so. it's all about this. let's hope the new promoter ( if they can find one...) will be able to increase the capability of wrc in that sense!