I agree that there needs to be some (amplified) sound. I don't think it should be "petrol engine imitation" though, but that's not a main point.

Stageside the sound is important also for the reasons you list but for Online/TV viewers the magnitude doesn't matter at all, if it's too loud it gets muted and if its too low it gets amplified, heli pictures have no sound at all
For WRC in the future the majority of viewers will come from online/tv and not from stageside (if it doesn't already atm).

Therefore the sound is much more important for "local" national rallies than it is for WRC. Which is why for example the electric Corsa is imo a bad idea, while the Fabia which already has some sound amplification afaik is better.

But in the end rallying is attractive due to 3 things:

1. Cars look same as normal cars (and "sound" similar, so if most cars are electric hearing petrol cars will be strange and the other way around)
2. Stages are on normal roads that people can relate to
3. Cars compete for time not for "sound points" or "sideways points"