[WRC] Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2026

[Ferranis]

People lost interest in sharing emotions with the other rally fans

I don't necessarily think this is the case. Can't really describe it, but there is something fundamentally missing from Rally that was there a decade ago. Maybe its the cars, the shallow competition, the stale broadcast. Would classify myself as a hardcare fan and its hard for me to get really exited now. Often times I rather play Assetto Corsa Rally then watch Rally and get the Rally exitement there

[Jarek Z]

Maybe its the cars, the shallow competition, the stale broadcast.

The cars are uglier, that's true. I think I agree with all those 3 factors.

[Eli]

In such a famous rally like the Portugal Rally, we only have 12 pages of comments, even though interest used to be much higher in the past.

Mmmmm some people are out in the stages ehm ehm! or at least trying to get to them in time, the schedule is a complete mess so, sorry for not having time to post, tomorrow at this hour should be cooler.

[Mk2 RS2000]

In such a famous rally like the Portugal Rally, we only have 12 pages of comments, even though interest used to be much higher in the past.

Perhaps if the drivers had a personality adjustment they would be more interesting to follow

[240RS]

Perhaps if the drivers had a personality adjustment they would be more interesting to follow

For me, the drivers speak through their driving. I still find rallying intriguing and spectacular.

Lately, Toyota's dominance has taken away something but overall the sport offers moments many others don't, or can't. Packaging, hyping and relaying some of the finer bits is still very much a work in progress, if it is progressing at all. I can only hope we don't dilute and lose it all in the next cycle.

For what its worth, the few days/hours when the forum was down were very frustrating. This forum is a must-visit on the week of the rally.

[WRCStan]

Perhaps if the drivers had a personality adjustment they would be more interesting to follow

Who is a good example personality, maybe from another sport? Not sure what people mean saying this.

[spyros]

Last year I attended the Acropolis Rally, and something really stood out to me. There was a group of young fans standing next to me, and they barely knew any drivers apart from Sébastien Ogier — mainly because they had watched a Netflix documentary about him. They also couldn’t recognize most of the cars, let alone know anything about their technical characteristics or differences. They were basically complete newcomers to the sport.

I think this says a lot about the current state of rally popularity. The sport is struggling to create deeper engagement and knowledge among younger audiences, compared to previous generations where fans knew the drivers, teams, and technical side of the cars in great detail.

[jonkka]

You judge the whole younger generation of fans based on just one group you saw? That's quite a generalisation. We all started not knowing anything until we learned, you know.

[EstWRC]

So good to see Suninen back and showing he has still got it

[macebig]

He's right on the cars being instantly recognizable. Group A and early WRC era had that. You knew the Escorts, the Celicas, the Imprezas, the Octavias cause they were nearly identical to road cars you saw everyday. Now, the Yaris looks nothing like a road one as does the i20 and only the Puma comes close to resembling the road going one.