MOTORSPORT: Rallying rethinks its future... Again

The people running rallying on the world and national stages are still grappling to find the magic formulae for success

Will rallying ever attain the place within the motorsport landscape – and the exposure – that its strongest proponents devoutly believe it deserves?

It's easy to think not, but rallying's true believers retain their faith and missionary zeal.

It is the form of motorsport that most consistently trips over itself, but those at rallying's heart – on the world and national stages – are intent on seeing it improve.

It was reported on Autosport.com on Thursday night that Jean Todt, the president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) (whose life was in rallying before he resurrected the Ferrari Formula One team and ultimately ascended to the FIA throne), is keen to take a more active role in the World Rally Championship's future, "accepting that change needs to come in the near future".

On the national scene all is back in the melting pot after what can only be judged the failure of the new broom this decade to revert to two-wheel-drive cars as the "main game" in the Australian Rally Championship.

One idea is uniform rules in Australia and New Zealand for "maxi"-type rally cars.

More of that later, but first things first. And, on the world scene, the news is no change, or no great change, at least for now.

A push to revamp the power stage at the end of each WRC event has failed. The idea – from WRC Promoter, a joint company of Red Bull Media House and Sportsman Media Holding – had been to reduce the time gaps between crews to close up competition and improve the chances of positional changes on the final stage.

Time differences would have been divided by a factor of 10 and crews grouped in four-car shootouts.

The WRC Commission unanimously supported the idea, but it was rejected last month by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council, which asked that it be rethought.

The WRC Commission met again in Geneva this week, with FIA supremo Todt in attendance, but it stalled when it came to the matter of the power stage.

WRC Promoter's Oliver Ciesla, who had championed the power stage change as "the right step for the WRC to move forward and achieve the objective of reaching more people" – confirmed to Autosport.com on Thursday night that the idea was dead.

"It has become apparent that the proposal is not mature enough to gain a majority," Ciesla said.

"We will continue to look for ways to make the power stage more exciting but, as it stands, this proposal is finished.

"Of course, I am disappointed. Everybody involved has put a lot of thought and brain power into this and I would have liked to have taken this concept to the market, but now we have to look elsewhere."

However, there was agreement on matters, including the running order of cars.

It will be proposed to the WMSC, which is to meet again at the start of December, that cars run in championship order on days one and two of a WRC event, with priority drivers in reverse classification on the final day.

Another proposal from the meeting was to reduce the number of parts available at remote service and encourage event organisers to run new and longer stages.

An announcement from WRC Promoter with possible implications for Rally Australia also said: "In an effort to boost entries on events outside Europe, for 2015 nationally-homologated cars will be permitted to participate in non-European events, without the eligibility to score power stage or championship points."

Meanwhile, with this year's ARC decider four weeks away in Victoria (but no Victorian event on next year's calendar), a somewhat curious but nonetheless expansive document on the future of the national series has surfaced.

Titled 'Australian Rally Championship keeping options open', it was posted on rally.com.au on October 10 and provides both background and some clues to where the ARC may be headed.

"The ARC and ARCom [the Australian Rally Commission], recognised that the reliance on four-wheel drive, turbocharged road cars for the premier category in rallying was on the decline, and looked to explore the opportunities that adopting two-wheel drive as the foundation of the championship in 2011 might present in opening a path to a larger potential market," it says.

"Rally.com.au understands that the two-wheel drive platform, driven by the G2 regulations that have governed the likes of Honda's championship-winning Jazz, as well as the rallyschool.com.au Mazda 2 and the updates to Scott Pedder's Renault Clio, will continue beyond the 2015 season.

"However, the success of cost-controlled formulas for turbocharged, four-wheel drive rally cars such as the Argentinian 'maxi' car is also a concept being closely considered as part of recent discussions about re-launching the national 4WD series dominated by for more than a decade by Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Evos.

"The ARC is understood to have plans to promote the series with much greater recognition from next year onwards.

"Plans being considered to increase exposure for the 4WD series are believed to include seeding within the field of the two-wheel drive competitors, as well as inclusion in the power stage run before each event for bonus championship points.

"According to sources close to the discussions this would potentially lead into the 2016 season and beyond where outright will be for all modern (post 1986 2WD and 4WD) cars and an additional and highly-promoted 2WD series award.

"One recent announcement, made between CAMS and Motor Sport New Zealand, is the agreement to work together to consider the technical regulations required that might allow 'maxi'–type rally cars to compete in both countries.

"It is understood that there is significant interest in the ARC, in conjunction with the NZRC and the wider Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, to adopt the 'Maxi Rally' rules that would allow teams to fabricate four-wheel drive rally cars from a common set of parts.

"This 'maxi' platform could then be mated to a suitable hatchback-sized road car, allowing wider scope for different brands and manufacturers to compete in rallying without the increased cost to build and develop cars from scratch.

"The concept being considered would see 'maxi' cars running alongside existing FIA Group N or PRC all-wheel drive rally cars. This approach would ensure that there is an opportunity for competitors adopting the 'maxi' platform to share a common pool of spares, reducing costs, while the cars themselves have an exciting spectator appeal.

"It is hoped that local homologation would be possible allowing the cars to compete in regional international events and opening up career and competition pathways for drivers in Australia and within the region.

"While it is confirmed that 2WD will continue to be eligible for the ARC's highest tier beyond 2015, there is a distinct likelihood that the 'maxi' rules could see the first vehicles appearing in the 4WD national series as early as next year.

"Aside from talk of technical rule changes, the source close to the discussions has confirmed that championship priorities such as continued national television exposure, organiser engagement, junior development and fostering career paths, commercial involvement and cost containment are also being heavily debated."

Discussions, decisions... But will it all translate into success?

Picture courtesy Rally Australia

MOTORSPORT: Rallying rethinks its future... Again

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