The World Rally Championship faces challenges that boil down to the fact that there are only two full-fledged factory teams, the endeavor is simply too costly, and thus participating in the WRC does not currently appear as an attractive option for car manufacturers.
The WRC has already made radical changes for the next season, including a complete overhaul of the points system for next season.
However, there are also issues with the competition format. Drivers have repeatedly complained that the days are too long. More time is spent on transitions during the season than on the stages themselves, and once finally at the hotel, it’s time to start watching videos.
Teemu Suninen, who drove four WRC events for Hyundai last year, is concerned about the future of the series. But is it too late now?
“In my opinion, we’re already several years too late” Suninen told Rallit.fi.
“ As long as the cars cost one and a half million, there’s no motivation for factories to join. Even the world’s biggest car manufacturers tend to have a tight budget. The cars need to be made cheaper and thus accessible to more than just the two biggest manufacturers” Suninen continued.
What could still be done for the situation? How could the competition format be adjusted to best serve the WRC, its drivers, and of course the fans and sponsors?
“The most important change would be to bring the sport closer to the people. If you think about bringing sponsors and people who enable the whole thing, the drivers don’t have many minutes for them there (at the rally). When you’re driving for results, you have to focus on driving all the time, be on the road constantly, and focus on the videos” Suninen criticized.
The problem highlighted by Suninen was clearly demonstrated, for example, at the Central European Rally held at the end of the year. A quick spin was made in the Czech capital of Prague, and then it was quickly back to Germany, where the service area was located. Some might say it makes no sense at all.
“We need to bring the drivers closer to the fans, and that can only be achieved by lightening our load somewhat. The world has changed, and there’s a lot more data and the workload with engineers has increased. The amount of media has also grown, so the calendar is quite full on race days”
