Wednesday 17th October 2012

WRC post Loeb - what hope?

Mini and Ford out, Hyundai and VW in but what does Loeb's legacy really mean?

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In the wake of Sebastien Loeb winning his ninth consecutive World Rally Championship crown, it seems appropriate to consider the health of the series both in the context of Loeb’s unprecedented dominance and in light of several recent developments.

Nobody can stop him - is quitting a lifeline for WRC?

It’s regrettable that in the eyes of many, Loeb’s reign over the WRC will be remembered as the factor that killed it; at least in terms of their own interest in the sport. To undermine a man’s achievements in such a manner is to detract from the sheer brilliance that formed their basis. That seems unfair, but close competition is what makes any sporting pursuit captivating. In the short term, then, Loeb’s period of rule over the WRC will absolutely do harm to the series, but you hope that in years and decades to come we can look back at this era with nostalgia and a sense of romance, some degree of satisfaction that we were fortunate enough to witness something that will likely never be bettered as long as the WRC survives, in whatever shape or form that may be.

Hopefully we can eventually look back on Loeb’s success with the same fondness we do the spectacle of Group B.

If he keeps winning what does it mean?

What we do know is that the title Loeb won on home recently will almost certainly be his last, for he’ll only contest a part campaign in 2013 due to him being “a little tired of the schedule imposed by the World Rally Championship, what with the test sessions, reconnaissance and the various other things.” Loeb is off to try his hand in the World Touring Car Championship – with Citroen, naturally. It’s something of a shame that the mercurial Frenchman won’t be gunning for a 10th WRC title but for a handful of rallies at least we’ll still have a benchmark by which to judge all other competitors.

But if Loeb wins all the rallies he enters next season it’ll be hard to believe that the eventual World Champion is the best rally driver in the world. Regardless, the WRC will have a new champion in 2013 and for some that’ll be akin to progress.

Ford is quitting WRC as a manufacturer

Such of a much more meaningful type has come in the form of a new promoter for the series and a new manufacturer, too. Red Bull Media House and Sportsman Media have together taken grasp of the WRC’s commercial reins, an agreement that will hopefully result in a broadcasting deal that finally exploits emerging technologies. We can feel confident that this development is exceptionally good news for the WRC.

Hyundai’s commitment to the series from 2014 is also extremely positive. Far Eastern manufacturers have historically invested much in the series – think Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru – to the immeasurable benefit of the sport’s fans, but the WRC has lacked an Eastern entrant since Subaru quit in 2008. We can expect a whole new demographic of fans to be attracted to the series once Hyundai’s i20 WRC hits the stages.

Mini adventure in WRC didn't pay off

“The WRC offers the most technologically-diverse challenge for an automotive manufacturer. Our participation will demonstrate Hyundai’s engineering excellence and durability, and will also help to enhance our passenger vehicles in future,” says Mark Hall, Marketing Director at Hyundai Motor Europe, suggesting that the eternal art of powersliding through forests still has marketing value for car manufacturers. Hyundai’s programme will be a full works effort run out of the brand’s Frankfurt base, apparently, with driver line-ups yet to be decided.

So Loeb is on his way out, the promotion of the series seems to be in trustworthy hands and new manufacturers are taking an interest. On the flip side, both Mini and Ford have canned their involvement as factory entrants; a huge blow given that things really were looking up, but such is the state of the European new car market. We can find some solace in the knowledge that Prodrive and M-Sport will at least continue to run privately funded Mini and Ford Fiesta World Rally Cars in 2014.

VW arrives in WRC next year

One also wonders how long Citroen will continue with its WRC campaign once its WTCC programme is up and running. Should the worst happen, we’ll only have VW and Hyundai fielding works cars, leaving us with a series contested by two manufacturers – just as it has been for the last four seasons.

These remain uncertain times for the World Rally Championship, but there have been many meaningful changes of late and change is inarguably better than stagnation.

[Frimley111R]

I can't help thinking that there's not much point in rally cars based on road ones if you can't buy something that looks very similar in a showroom like the WRX/EVO/Cosworth. Leob winning in a DS3 will have little effect on people buying a 1.6d version.

[vtr_driver]

I think new Manufacturers taking part in the WRC is a great thing. Might mean that some new Sportier models are released. I20 with a Veloster turbo engine?

What killed the WRC for me was the move of the coverage from Dave to ESPN. I watched it religiously when it was on Dave but I don't have pay to view tv so haven't seen any of the last season (maybe 2 seasons!)

[Krikkit]

vtr_driver said:

What killed the WRC for me was the move of the coverage from Dave to ESPN. I watched it religiously when it was on Dave but I don't have pay to view tv so haven't seen any of the last season (maybe 2 seasons!)

Me too!

One thing that always strikes me is how brilliant these humdrum hatches look when given the full-beans WRC treatment, even the hideous Mini looks pretty good all dolled up!

Hopefully we'll start to see a revival of the series if it gets some good TV/media promotion with RBM, otherwise it'll surely continue in its decline.

[KMatt]

Krikkit said:

Hopefully we'll start to see a revival of the series if it gets some good TV/media promotion with RBM, otherwise it'll surely continue in its decline.

I agree. It's all about accessibility either on foot or more importantly on TV. But what makes other car based racing work is having all of the participants together on track and on TV battling it out head to head in a short period, live. WRC and rallying is a long, all weekend sport which is where it suffers in today's age. If the new promoters want TV audience then they have to fix the format and get it mainstream, and free.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

The article touches on an interesting point, if loeb does win the few rallies he enters, what worth the championship to the guy who picks up the leftovers?

[johnycarrera]

What a quitter!

[filski666]

my interest in the World Rally Championship died well before Loeb's dominance - it was the same time the Group A cars died, and with them the road going homologation specials.

You can't relate the current WRC machines to their road going brethren, and that was a big part of the appeal to me - partly why I drive a Celica GTFOUR

[LiamM45]

Frimley111R said:

I can't help thinking that there's not much point in rally cars based on road ones if you can't buy something that looks very similar in a showroom like the WRX/EVO/Cosworth. Leob winning in a DS3 will have little effect on people buying a 1.6d version.

this.

back when i watched WRC, there was the RB5 Impreza, sure there was a McRae Edition Impreza, the Tommi Mak Evo's and Celica GT-4's, you could actually relate to the cars on TV. They didn't look massively dissimilar to their road going counterparts.

I think Citroen have really missed a trick not releasing a 4WD turbo C4 or 4WD turbo DS3.

[tbtstt]

Sadly I don't think we'll ever see the sport return to the glory days of Group A, where spectators were watching a field of closely matched drivers in cars that were close(ish) to models they could buy in the showroom. The news from the last few weeks does seem like a step (or rather many steps) in the right direction for the WRC though.

Can't quite see the logic in Fords decision. They were talking about quitting years ago, but held out through the period of Loebs dominance (admittedly with a greatly reduced budget). Now Loeb is going they have the best chance they have had for years to take a title again, but they are throwing the towel in!

I hope M-Sport continue to run with Fords, as I just don't think the WRC will be the same without the blue oval involved. If rumours are to be believed though, then M-Sport may be moving to a different marque in the not-to-distant future.

VW have got to be the team to watch in 2013. With Latvala now backing Ogier and some very serious looking development behind the Polo R WRC its going to be very interesting to see how quick they are.

I hope Hyundai can pose a serious threat too, as success for them could trigger other Eastern manufacturers to have a crack at the WRC again. They didn't make much of a splash first time round, so hopefully they will get it right this time!

[BBS-LM]

For me the WRC is a complete mess, and proof in that is both Ford and Mini have pulled out of the championship, there is only 2 works manufactures competing, add to that the terrible TV coverage, and then making things worse by given the right to the UK WRC coverage to just one TV station adds up to a dieing sport. The only good news about the WRC is Red Bull Media House might just have a chance to rebuild the sport, but I am not putting any money on the almost dead horse just yet.

[Trophybloo]

BBS-LM said:

For me the WRC is a complete mess, and proof in that is both Ford and Mini have pulled out of the championship, there is only 2 works manufactures competing, add to that the terrible TV coverage, and then making things worse by given the right to the UK WRC coverage to just one TV station adds up to a dieing sport. The only good news about the WRC is Red Bull Media House might just have a chance to rebuild the sport, but I am not putting any money on the almost dead horse just yet.

2 Manufacturers is all we've had for the last 4 years, and while we suffer in the UK, other parts of Europe give WRC lots of coverage and the crowds are still big. Ford may have pulled out but Mini were never really in. I'm off to Spain in 3 weeks to see a 74 car field (17 WRC)for what promises to be a very good time indeed
M-Sport will still be running a WRC team next year, I doubt for all intents that the punter will notice much difference.

[Frimley111R]

2 things to fix WRC:

1. Give us high powered 4x4 cars that go like st off a shovel and sound awesome. We don't want to see FWD 1.2 litre 'shopping trolley' cars (which is where they're heading/are) This is racing! Not a demo of how economical and cheap a car is! Fiestas, Polos, Fabia etc are the budget cars of the ranges. Where's the Focus RS, Scirocco R and Octavia VRS?

2. Put the rallies near the people! The UK rally (or whatever its called) is miles away from most of the population. Put it near London with some tarmac stages and off road stages. Its simple enough. Did you see the crowds when one F1 car drove through the centre of London?

Put me in charge!

[ArnageWRC]

It’s quite simple really. Manufacturers are in it to sell more cars. They also want a ‘Return on Investment’ – excellent media coverage around the world through TV, Radio, internet, papers/magazines, etc
For the last 5+ years, it hasn’t really happened – so the WRC has become a niche sport, only really followed by the ‘hard-core’ fans.

Which is were the RedBull/Sportsmens Group come in. Just look at the coverage of the RedBull Stratos with Felix Baumgartner....they know how to promote an event. Have a look at their website, or RedBullTV, RedBulletin magazine.

Which is why I thought Ford & Mini would stick around – things will be better next year! However, depending on next year, they may return and/or more Manufacturers will sign up – the new R5 car regs should help.

It’s not all doom & gloom..

[RX7]

filski666 said:

You can't relate the current WRC machines to their road going brethren, and that was a big part of the appeal to me - partly why I drive a Celica GTFOUR

Absolutely, nail and head, as others have said above too!

I too was far more interested in rallying when you could effectively go and buy one (in essence). Stunning as the wrc cars are these days, they loose so much appeal by not having road going alternatives. The sub culture of road variants were huge, evos, scoobies, celicas, escorts, deltas, all of these cars only have a heritage born about through rallying and more so, the success of their wrc bigger brothers, would the Delta be so popular now if it wasnt for its legendary winning status?

I also find it so curious Loebs success is being attributed to its demise, i actively know people who have stopped watching MotoGp because Rossi isnt winning of late and it seems their not on their own, so where does that differ!

Whilst the crowds of the group b days were clearly insane, i think the whole health and safety culture is also part to blame. I recently went to watch a rally event this year and could barely get close, well, not like a good few years ago, maybe that was just that particular event!

They do need some input with tv coverage though and a decent amount of manufacturers, maybe these are all pin points to its slow down!

So why dont they make road going alternatives these days, target market, costs etc?

[P2BS]

BBS-LM said:

...the terrible TV coverage, and then making things worse by given the right to the UK WRC coverage to just one TV station adds up to a dieing sport.

The one TV station being C4 Wales, not available to anyone on VirginMedia unless (you guessed it) you live in Wales.
The website had some reasonably good footage on there pretty quickly (I think Solberg's French crash was online about 90 minutes after it happened), but I would prefer to sit on my sofa of an evening & watch the highlights in a coherent one-hit show.
Shambolic effort alright.

[V8 FOU]

I seem to remember similar comments during the days of WRC dominance by Marcus Gronholm. There are many rising stars, and perhaps we may see more interesting entries. Remember Petter Solbergs private entry a couple of years ago? That didn't turn out too shabby did it?
Better TV coverage is needed. I watch all the classic / Irish rallying on Motors TV - even though it costs an extra £20 a month for the tv package to get it! (The rest is rubbish)

[mat205125]

WRC would benifit from a massive cost reduction in development, and a move away from the shopping cart hatches that have ruled the roost for the last couple of seasons.

The NGTC regs in the BTCC have created a platform where teams can build and run cars for semi-sensible money. Similar logic is required in WRC.

My ideal fundamental rule changes would shift the regs towards 2WD machines, with the regs on weight and dimensions encouraging a shift to larger mid size hatchs and saloons, and ideally closer to a factory comparible model from the line-up (accepting that 99% of compentry will change) .... These would be cars that the drivers would have to wrestle with through a stage, rather than reward millimetre perfect apex clipping.

My 2015 championship would see factory and privateer supported entries of everything from Kia C'eeds to AMG B Class Mercs and 135Ms .... FWD vs RWD, with entry siloettes from all corners of the globe. (engines would be 1.6 turbos capped to 350bhp - more power than today, however offset by only being 2wd)

[Arun_D]

P2BS said:

BBS-LM said:

...the terrible TV coverage, and then making things worse by given the right to the UK WRC coverage to just one TV station adds up to a dieing sport.

The one TV station being C4 Wales, not available to anyone on VirginMedia unless (you guessed it) you live in Wales.
The website had some reasonably good footage on there pretty quickly (I think Solberg's French crash was online about 90 minutes after it happened), but I would prefer to sit on my sofa of an evening & watch the highlights in a coherent one-hit show.
Shambolic effort alright.

MotorsTV (sky channel 413). Except the programming is seemingly sub-VHS quality with poor/little post-production. Unwatchable for me. IIRC from when I had the Sports Package, ESPN was little better.

I used to love watching the programs on Dave with Neil Cole a few years ago. Decent summary of the weekend's stages, and engaged the viewers with the service park crews and the great characters that make up the WRC driver lineup (Gronholm's end-of-stage interviews in particular were always entertaining). Even though I had Eurosport daily roundups, I'd always savour the Sunday program on Dave.

[CocoUK]

Lovely opening image of the Hyundai Veloster(?), nice contrast of colours.

I guess the height of my interest was when Channel.4. covered the sport which would have been before Loebs first title.
I never felt ITV did a great job, plus they pushed it to a 'hidden' channel. DAVE coverage was better & it was a disappointment when it went to ESPN.

Fingers crossed Red Bull can do the sport justice, although as commented above, plenty of changes could do with taking place to make the sport more interesting and crucially, appealing to manufactures.


WRC post Loeb:
Good - that we should hopefully have a good scrap at every event as 'all bets are off'.
Bad - that we are not going to get to see as often one of the greatest drivers to ever grace the planet.

[ColbyCol]

Unless they do something with the TV licencing quickly I really don't think it will survive, I am also without pay per view TV so when it disappeared from Dave it may as well disappeared completely (as previously posted i think ive missed at least 1 maybe 2 seasons!!)

Rallying has always been a spectator sport of two kinds; those hardcore enough to venture into the wilderness for a weekend of fly-bys and those who were interested in the championship, watching from home a compelation of powerslides that effectively come together in an even similar to the qualification of any other race! (and lets face it no one really cares about qualifying :P)

Without a window to get new spectators and viewers involved it would suprise me if many would go looking for it...