JYVÄSKYLÄ.
On the gravel roads of central Finland, one of the most anticipated events of the World Rally Championship, the Finnish World Rally Championship, has started.
Already on Thursday at Harju’s special exam, among other things Kalle Rovanperä had time to admire the atmosphere and said that the encouragement was heard almost all the way to the car.
Rovanperä has in every way raised the interest in the World Rally Championship to a new level in Finland. Last year too, under Rovanperä’s leadership, new records were set in the Finnish World Rally Championship.
In the big picture, however, there are plenty of worries about the state of the World Rally Championship. There are only two factory garages Toyota and Hyundai. The private team M-Sport drives Fords.
This summer, the discussion about the future of the World Rally Championship has heated up. Driving a Hyundai Thierry Neuville in an interview with Autohebdo suggested, among other things, shortening the Finnish World Rally Championship to a “sprint” of less than two days and halving the points awarded for the race.
Read more: Comment: Kalle Rovanperä’s challenger’s radical proposal for the Finnish World Rally Championship is absurd – it’s still worth listening to him
When Urheilu met Neuville in the Jyväskylä WC rally service park, the Belgian was not too shy to reveal what kind of feedback he had received about his radical proposals. Neuville said that every driver had been asked for suggestions for changes to the World Rally Championship and they were then forwarded.
In any case, Neuville incensed the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä.
– We already had a lot of people in the service park in the middle of the day on Thursday. It is still close to the city center. There are many bars, great atmosphere. This is what the Rally World Series needs. It is of course important to bring people closer to the rally, but also to bring the rally closer to the people, Neuville said.
Estonian star Ott Tänak on the other hand, uploaded a really strict text to Urheilu about the state of the World Rally Championship before the start of the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä.
– Everyone has suggestions and thoughts. In general, it looked like the rally would get a fresh start in 2016 and 2017 when the new rules came in, M-Sport’s Ford driver Tänak points to the arrival of new WRC cars.
The cars at that time became the fastest in the history of the World Series.
– Cars became more attractive. The competition became tougher. The game looked fun. Somehow the development stopped. We didn’t put in a bigger gear. Now the situation is torn apart. In this way the species can die.
On the very opening day, Tänak experienced a harsh fate in the World Rally Championship race, when he had to stop after hitting a rock on Friday’s second stage in Lankamaa.
Suninen would take a model from the EC series, Lapland needs a show
One of the current pain points of the World Rally Championship is the new rally1 hybrid cars that came last year. The price of one of these is estimated at one million euros.
Hyundai driver Teemu Suninen I would like to see that the costs in the World Rally Championship are cut quite a lot.
– We would get more teams. Eight cars (in the first class) per race is not enough, Suninen emphasizes.
However, he recalls the good progress of the lower-level rally EC series.
– It’s nice to watch the EC series. There are 15 drivers who can be the fastest. In the EC series, the fight is tight, says Suninen.
Finland’s number one rally names at the moment Kalle Rovanperä and Esapekka Lappi are also of the opinion that “something should be done” about the current situation.
– There are really many different things that should change. For example, the sport should be made compact, because nowadays sports have to be like that in order to get people to watch, Rovanperä points out.
Lapland can’t say what the best solution would be, because someone always complains. Lapland would still like to see more of a show than what the Rally World Series currently offers.
– The time trial clip was tried sometimes, but it was taken away. That would be a show, says Lappi.
Tänak is also silent about the tire change
The closing days of the competition have become quite hectic, as the drivers have saved tires for the last special test, the power stage. The best five get extra points for that.
Lappi considers the tire change decision by the organizers of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship a good one, because often Sunday mornings go specifically for a “Sunday ride”.
– Sunday should be made somehow different, or you won’t ride on Sunday at all. If we start on Thursday with three or four clips and finish on Saturday. Then a terrible party, Lappi reflected.
On Thursday, Tänak had time to be grumpy even about the tire change to .
– This doesn’t really have anything to do with sports, it’s more of a marketing thing, Tänak grumbled.
The F1 boss, known from Netflix, would not take a model from royalty
Boss of Suninen and Lapland, team manager of Hyundai Cyril Abiteboul started at the beginning of the year in his washroom. Before that, he worked in the F1 series between 2012 and 2021 as a team manager at Caterham, Renault and Alpine.
Abiteboul became a global celebrity with the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive, which follows the F1 series. In the documentary series, we saw how Abiteboul twisted Red Bull hard behind the scenes, for example by Christian Horner with about the engine contract and Daniel Ricciardo of hijacking.
When Abiteboul is asked about the status and future of the World Rally Championship, the Frenchman begins a one and a half minute monologue.
In short, according to Abiteboul, the World Rally Championship should do a better job.
– We have to show the media, fans and viewers that change is happening. There are many places where you know how to organize a rally. Finland is a good example. It can be an inspiration to many. In general, the sport should look like it is more modern and evolving. The competition weekend must be more compact. Incredible things are being done here in Finland. But we’re not doing a good enough job of making the fans understand what’s going on, Abiteboul described.
The current hybrid rules are valid until the end of 2024. Jari-Matti Latvala for example, has needed quick decisions so that the new rules could be locked in place. However, decision-making has been delayed. Now it looks like the current rules will last until 2025.
– The rules must be made so that the World Series is possible for more drivers and teams. There should be a better connection between rally2 cars and rally1 cars. Anyone who can buy a rally2 car should also be able to race with rally1 cars. Things like this need to be investigated. Even Rome wasn’t built in a day, but we have to start the change, Abiteboul describes.
F1 has risen to a new heyday thanks to its visibility on Netflix, among other things. However, Abiteboul would not directly copy anything from the success concept of the royalty of formulas.
– We can think about Netflix at some point, but not yet. However, we need a platform to make the rally more popular.