In the World Rally Championship, we have to see sprint races in the future.
In the future, electric and hydrogen cars must be allowed in the World Championship.
The World Series still has to be run all year round on snow, gravel and asphalt.
Are there enough teams in the World Cup?
It contains examples of claims and questions, by answering which the World Rally Championship is expected to be saved. I studied the form in amazement.
There is no secret information on my screen, but public online surveywhich the decision-makers of the World Rally Championship have asked rally fans to fill out.
I find myself wondering: What should I think about this?
In recent years, I have written about various problems in the World Rally Championship. Rule changes have been made in such a way that it has become impossible to attract new stables. The drivers have also woken up to this, and throughout the last year they have presented their own proposals for changes.
For a long time, the biggest problem has been that almost nothing has been done – at least not on time.
But in the last few months, we’ve suddenly seen a little bit of everything.
Under the new season, the points rule of the World Series was changed. It was criticized as confusing, but the International Motor Sport Federation immediately announced that it is ready for the next changes quickly if the reform does not work.
WRC2 drivers demanded last year to allow front car groups in asphalt races. The wish was heard and fulfilled.
There’s even more going on in the background. Rally site Dirt Fish reports on the beginning of the yearthat the current rally1 cars might be consigned to history already after this season.
The new working group preparing the future of the World Series will present its results to the FIA’s decision-makers at the end of February. It is possible that the World Series will be renewed in many ways in the coming years.
At the center of everything is how to get more teams, drivers and competition in the World Series. The goal is to increase the number of followers of the sport.
As part of this effort, the FIA published its fan survey. It is extraordinary that the FIA, which is known as a rather dense umbrella organization, approaches the followers of the sport in this way.
Investment has been made in the content of the survey, although visually it does not directly set the tone. Answering claims easily takes twenty minutes.
The survey explores everything from drivers’ opinions to which eras of rallying have been the most interesting. Instead, the most interesting questions are the questions that reflect on the possibility that the most technically limited cars would be driven in the World Series in the future.
In practice, this would mean switching to rally2 cars, which are used to compete in the second class of the World Rally Championship, i.e. the WRC2 series. If a consensus is finally found, the revolutionary rule change can be passed quickly.
Not all questions are fully thought through. It is irrelevant to ask fans whether future WRC cars should have a price ceiling of 300,000 euros. In the end, it’s just about what the current and future teams want.
Fans who are less familiar with the sport cannot know what such a precise price ceiling would actually mean, even though the questioning strongly points in the direction of current rally2 cars.
It is also difficult to assess how the views of ordinary followers are included in the final decisions. Or whether it makes sense to only listen to the answers of passionate rally people when the purpose is to attract new audiences. Those who don’t care about the rally yet will hardly come across the survey.
Still, the survey leaves a positive impression. For a long time, the FIA and rally decision-makers seem to genuinely care about rallying as a sport. It doesn’t even seem to bother them that the fan survey underlines how marginal a sport rally is. The Formula 1 series would hardly condescend to mass ideation for its fans.
A more down-to-earth rally approach is suitable. of the FIA president of Mohammed bin Sulayem the background of the rally can be seen slowly in the outputs of the umbrella organization. World champion cartographer by Robert Reid the new working group headed by
Whatever the changes are, I really can’t wait because finally something is happening. The ongoing WC rally season feels more and more like a gap year.
Kalle Rovanperän at the same time, the decision to ride for half a season looks even more ingenious.
The World Rally Championship continues next week in Sweden. Below you can listen to Micke Suopuro’s and Henri Haapamäki’s conversation about the twists and turns of the Rovaniemi SC Rally, where Kalle Rovanperä opened his season. The race served as a test for Sweden.