WRC: World- or Western Rally Championship?

An interesting story that came up today, it is believed that the World Rally Championship manufacturers (Citroën, Ford and Mini) have proposed a calendar for 2013 in which no Rallies will be held outside Europe and the Americas. A curious case, in many ways.

First of all, why would these car manufacturers limit the scope of publicity they get via the WRC? Teams are in there to be on TV, and find customers in markets around the world. With Asia quickly becoming the largest car market in the world, it makes no sense to leave that continent behind by not rallying there.

Also, although the teams aim to get more attention in North and South America, this is also very limited, as their desire is to have ten European rallies, together with two in South America, and one in central America (Mexico probably). The WRC would become a European Championship, which would mean it would lose prestige in the world of motorsports and would also lose interest to non-European manufacturers, as they would have nothing to celebrate in their HQs in Asia, as less people would pay attention to the rallying in Europe. Subaru and Mitsubishi would be spinning in their proverbial graves.

Ironically one source said this: "The value in the American markets is enormous and we need a calendar which will reflect that. What we need now more than ever is value in return for every Euro we spend."Why leave Asia, North America and Australia out of the picture and stick with a 80% European championship?


Second, why do the teams propose a calendar prior to the FIA? The FIA does not present a calendar till May, and will probably not change that moment after the teams proposal, which leaves the rally world and fans outside Europe in doubt for another two months, not good for a championship. The only clue we have is that FIA boss Jean Todt talked about a 50/50 championship in January, with half the races in Europe, and the other half somewhere else. Something which definitely makes more sense.

The Final point I want to make is questioning if we need so many Rallies in Europe? Comparing the WRC to, say F1 we see that Formula One has 8 out of 20 races in Europe, 40% of total seems enough and fair towards other parts of the world. It covers 5 different continents, a true world championship in which the champion can really be called best of the world. WRC plans to do 10 out of 13 rallies in Europe, and will cover 2,5 continents (Central America being debatable). With some European rounds awfully close to oneanother. France's Alsace round is held a good 20 miles from the Deutschland Rally, and the Monte Carlo Rally used to be around the corner of that other French round: the Tour de Corse, which happens to be next door to the Rally of Italy at Sardinia.

Issue for a world championship is that transport costs increase for teams if they want to cover more continents, but if that is such an issue, why does the 2012 calendar feature 'Air Miles' bonus trips such as the Rally Mexico - Portugal - Argentina trio? Two long trips to America back to Europe and to America again in six weeks does not make sense.

But let's not forget, the season is only two rallies underway now, we don't have a champion yet, and the next season will not kick off for a good 10 months. Enjoy the Rallies outside of Europe, and hope they'll be there next year too.

Sata Rally Azores - Day 1

Mikkelsen and Hänninen set the pace

A rather modest turnout for the first round of the season, with mostly Portuguese drivers completing the field for the Sata Rally Azores. Only defending champion Andreas Mikkelsen, and strong contenders Juho Hänninen and Bryan Bouffier made the trip to the Azores, where drivers like Jan Kopecký, Freddy Loix and Tony Gardemeister chose not to take part in the first IRC meeting. Together with IRC expert Bruno Magalhaes the podium spots seems to be something for these four drivers. But it doesn't have to be like that.

The IRC proved for some close rallying in various Rallies last year, yet nobody from the mostly unknown drivers seems to keep up with 'the big four' after day 1.
Immediately after stage 1 it was clear that Mikkelsen and Hänninen were up for it, Mikkelsen taking the scratch, Hänninen 3.2 seconds behind on the 8.25km Coroa da Mata stage. The two were followed by Bryan Bouffier (+10.1 seconds), Bruno Magalhaes (+15.8) and Sepp Wiegand (+23.6).

Stage two saw Juho Hänninen taking his first scratch of the 2012 season, yet he missed out on the lead by 1.2 seconds. Problems were in Bruno Magalhaes' way, a problem with the handbrake forced him to back up a little after missing a corner, despite this he set the fourth time on stage 2, a mere 13 seconds behind Hänninen.
Standings after SS2: 1 Andreas Mikkelsen, 2 Juho Hänninen+1.2, 3 Bryan Bouffier+20.4, 4 Magalhaes+27.3, with Wiegand holding on to fifth, 47 seconds back.

Stage 3 was one for 2011 champion Mikkelsen, just. On the 2,2km long stage he managed to take two tenths of a second on Juho Hänninen. So the game will still be one when day 2 starts.
Standings after day 1:
1. Andreas Mikkelsen Skoda UK 13m53.7s
 2. Juho Hanninen       Skoda + 1.4s
 3. Bryan Bouffier       Peugeot + 23.0s
 4. Bruno Magalhaes  Peugeot + 29.9s
 5. Sepp Wiegand      Skoda Deutschland + 52.0s
 6. Ricardo Moura     Mitsubishi + 53.7s
 7. Hermann Gassner Red Bull Skoda + 56.1s
 8. Oleksandr Salyuk  Iurii Chemezov Ford + 1m17.5s
 9. Rashid Al Ketbi     Skydive Dubai Skoda + 1m37.2s
10. Oleksii Tamrazov Iurii Chemezov Ford + 1m42.9s

Day two starts at 10.20 GMT, or 11.20 in the center of Europe.



Martijn Kösters,
Rallycross_ERC

Prologue

Hi there, and welcome to the yet to be constructed Rally and Cross blog. After running the @Rallycross_ERC for some years I felt it was time for something extra, as not all the news can be brought and explained in 140 characters. That's why we have this blog!

Here you can expect Rally reports, updates or extended stories on important issues in Rally and Rallycross. Perhaps some preview and reviews as well. So get yourself ready, strap yourself in, and get your dose of dust, dirt and Rallying.