WRC mainclass from 2027

[deephouse]

We will believe when we will see it. Dacia, Skoda, Hyundai & Lancia already claiming they will not build new car. So who's next? Subaru, M-Sport, Lynk&Co

[Sulland]

I have for many years in here said that we need another group B to Group A transformation.
Manufacturer rally has become too expensive and is very limiting for new talents, due to too few seats in total, and big cooperations keep it safe, with the experienced boys.

I have been fought in here from people that like manufacturer involvment and feel that that is the only way ahead.
The manufacturer map look very much different today than 10-15 years ago, and we now have very few boardmeetings that control the whole car business. Therefore much less possibilities for many teams. And that trend will not stop.

Going back to the most fun period of world rally championship, after Group B was killed off after 86. A few years later the UK and french motorsport industri started to move. And privat teams started to appear, that fought the manufacturers direct.

Hopefully something like that could happen again. Rally will never be like F1, rally in my head is the maverick of motorsport, and FIA cannot put it into the Racing envolope.

I am hoping cost and tech will be pushed back, and driver talent be put to the front.
Us fans and the drivers love to look at and drive Escorts BDAs, BMW M3s and older historic cars. Cars that are hard to drive in the bends, and are driver cars!

if they start up going 3 sec per km ss in the beginning, is ok. Development will happen, but jokers need to be controlled, also to keep cost down, and fun car control up!

[Rallyper]

I have for many years in here said that we need another group B to Group A transformation.
Manufacturer rally has become too expensive and is very limiting for new talents, due to too few seats in total, and big cooperations keep it safe, with the experienced boys.

I have been fought in here from people that like manufacturer involvment and feel that that is the only way ahead.
The manufacturer map look very much different today than 10-15 years ago, and we now have very few boardmeetings that control the whole car business. Therefore much less possibilities for many teams. And that trend will not stop.

Going back to the most fun period of world rally championship, after Group B was killed off after 86. A few years later the UK and french motorsport industri started to move. And privat teams started to appear, that fought the manufacturers direct.

Hopefully something like that could happen again. Rally will never be like F1, rally in my head is the maverick of motorsport, and FIA cannot put it into the Racing envolope.

I am hoping cost and tech will be pushed back, and driver talent be put to the front.
Us fans and the drivers love to look at and drive Escorts BDAs, BMW M3s and older historic cars. Cars that are hard to drive in the bends, and are driver cars!

if they start up going 3 sec per km ss in the beginning, is ok. Development will happen, but jokers need to be controlled, also to keep cost down, and fun car control up!

+100

Always wanted this, bcs the sport has evolved way beyond its heritage.

[focus206]

I have for many years in here said that we need another group B to Group A transformation.
Manufacturer rally has become too expensive and is very limiting for new talents, due to too few seats in total, and big cooperations keep it safe, with the experienced boys.

I have been fought in here from people that like manufacturer involvment and feel that that is the only way ahead.
The manufacturer map look very much different today than 10-15 years ago, and we now have very few boardmeetings that control the whole car business. Therefore much less possibilities for many teams. And that trend will not stop.

Going back to the most fun period of world rally championship, after Group B was killed off after 86. A few years later the UK and french motorsport industri started to move. And privat teams started to appear, that fought the manufacturers direct.

Hopefully something like that could happen again. Rally will never be like F1, rally in my head is the maverick of motorsport, and FIA cannot put it into the Racing envolope.

I am hoping cost and tech will be pushed back, and driver talent be put to the front.
Us fans and the drivers love to look at and drive Escorts BDAs, BMW M3s and older historic cars. Cars that are hard to drive in the bends, and are driver cars!

if they start up going 3 sec per km ss in the beginning, is ok. Development will happen, but jokers need to be controlled, also to keep cost down, and fun car control up!

On paper I agree with you. Unfortunately, it seems that instead of passing from group B to group A, they want to pass from group B to group S. Actually even worse, at least group S was supposed to have street versions.

The problem is that the pool of available and suitable new cars for rallying is small. I don't know how long would Rally2 last as top class (which is more like WRC regs than group A regs), then we'd be left with smaller, less powerful classes. And I imagine that manufacturers would still need to homologate the eventually new Rally3, Rally4, Rally5 to sell to the public, even without a manufacturer team.

For a handful of years it would be okay. But then we have to accept that rallying will become less professional, with slower and less spectacular cars (apart from historic), and interest will drop, we might not get Rally TV anymore, maybe not even WRC, just ERC. If there are no other solutions, to me it's acceptable, it just means WRC has run its course. Some probably prefer the made up funnymobiles with Fabia parts photoshopped on.

[Rallyper]

If drivers are topnotch, the interest is still there, even if everyone drive Fabia 2WD.
However if top class would be WRC2, with Rally2+ cars it would still attract spectators, believe me.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

It's the big question and an existential problem... what is rallying for in the future ?

In the past it was to sell road cars. To prove your brand's cars had speed, quality and reliability. Most rally cars had a very close road-car relative, even if the rally car was just looking quite the same. And performance cars were fast saloons and hatchbacks, any other proper off-road 4x4s weren't for speed.

Now the market has changed. The hot-hatch has almost died out and people want (or are sold on) big SUVs or cars with loads of luxury and tech. How can these be proven by rallying ? Answers on a postcard...

[focus206]

If drivers are topnotch, the interest is still there, even if everyone drive Fabia 2WD.
However if top class would be WRC2, with Rally2+ cars it would still attract spectators, believe me.

I would still be interested with 2WD Fabia and Clio. But some fans who like flashy spectacular driving more than actual cars, they might not agree. We can hope the interest will not go down too much.

With Rally2, we'd get some very nice competition years, no doubt. But I don't know how long it will last, I don't think many manufacturers are interested in making expensive Rally2 cars, with similar regs to old WRC cars.

[JRodrigues]

Toyota (?) testing in Algarve with brand new car:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17x...ibextid=wwXIfr

[TypeR]

Might be celica ideed like user gigigalli once said..

Interesting

[Andre Oliveira]

Photos by Márcio Pereira