The WRC Promoter hopes that team radios could be heard during live TV broadcasts in the rally championship, just like in Formula One.
In Formula One, team radios are a crucial and popular part of the broadcast, often adding significant value to the coverage.
The WRC has noticed how popular team radios are, and now they want to bring the same feature to rally.
“Teamwork element is something I think we can improve,” WRC Promoter’s event director Simon Larkin told selected media, including RallyJournal.com, during the Croatia Rally.
“I believe we can bring out more characters. The relationship between the driver and their engineer is something we’re missing, something other sports manage better,” Larkin continued.
In Formula One, the conversations between Max Verstappen and his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase have been very entertaining over the years. The pair have even been known to argue heatedly during live broadcasts.
“When Verstappen is discussing his race with his engineer, Lambiase, it’s entertaining. We need interactions like that,” Larkin stated.
“The interaction between a driver and their engineer on road sections, discussing various aspects, is interesting for everyone. It’s a good starting point,” Larkin continued.
The WRC Promoter plans to offer teams access to live telemetry during broadcasts, and in return, the teams would allow the promoter access to radio communications.
“We could offer the teams more live data access, such as oil pressure, water pressure, and tire pressure monitoring systems. There are many instances when issues with these cars could have been prevented, potentially keeping them in the rally,” Larkin illustrated.
“There’s a better technological story we can tell about these cars and what goes into them. We can do this more live. Each car has several engineers who don’t receive any data until they plug a USB stick into the car at midday service. We can improve this, and it can also enhance our storytelling.”
