As the World Rally Championship moves into a new era with the sale of WRC Promoter, and brand-new technical regulations from 2027, nearly everything is up for discussion.
Every single stakeholder agrees we need to refine the WRC to help it grow and reach the potential we, as rally fans, know it has. But how do we do it?
Rally Estonia tried something interesting earlier this year by shortening the rally week, meaning both the shakedown and the competitive event started on Friday.
That meant the crews, but also team members and mechanics, could travel to the rally later and benefit from an extra day with their families. We certainly felt that benefit at M-Sport.
However, the one topic that kept coming up when discussing Estonia was the show on Thursday night. Rally Estonia has always put on an excellent ceremonial start ceremony, but this year the organizers set up an open zone where the drivers could just go out and play.
This is exactly what the WRC needs more of: entertainment. Our guys in particular put on an incredible show for the crowds with no competitive element or tire usage to worry about.
Drivers were able to skid their cars in an open area before Rally Estonia officially started
The beauty is there was no TC0 because shakedown, let alone the rally, hadn’t even started yet. From an organizational perspective, this meant there was no need for controls, time cards, zero cars or huge safety plans. They just fenced off an area and let the drivers send it.
As a team, we were immediately in favor of this demonstration in Estonia when the concept was raised. Fans really enjoy this kind of show – as did our drivers – where cars are doing burnouts, donuts and drifts, and putting on a far better spectacle than the traditional superspecial or spectator stage. We were free to change components too if we wanted, although they were linked parts with Rally Finland. That’s what put drivers from rival teams off, but we were less concerned as if the parts couldn’t last this show, they were going to fail anyway.
Drivers accept the need for spectator stages but they never tend to enjoy them, and they usually drive with a margin because they can’t necessarily win the rally there but can very easily lose it. But with this drivers’ playground, if you include a couple of barrels and maybe a little jump, then they can just play around and produce a far better spectacle. You could even still do it in an arena, like the stadium at Rally Islas Canarias, where there’s plenty of seating, but just open it up for drivers to express themselves.
You don’t even have to put the co-drivers in the car as there are no time controls. You could put guests in there instead and give them the chance to experience what it’s truly like inside a rally car – something that’s very hard to convey to anyone unless they’ve done it. This would be another promotional angle for the organizers, FIA and WRC Promoter.
The other people who stand to benefit are the mechanics. The cars had to be at the start ceremony for 5pm in Estonia, so we took our cars down and then basically told the mechanics they’re all done: head off back to the hotel, do what you want, just be aware that you are on call in case something does happen.
They loved that because they could then go into town and enjoy some social time. I know pretty much every single one went out for dinner and put money into the economy. A lot went to the stage and actually watched it, which they don’t normally get to do. So I think it benefited the city too, because all of a sudden you had 50 people going out for dinner.
The WRC is currently very demanding in terms of working hours, which can lead to heavy staff turnover as we are asking an awful lot of people – particularly the core team who travel to every event. This gives the team an opportunity to enjoy themselves and relax a little before the rally starts, instead of spending a long day on-call from shakedown in the morning to a superspecial in the evening.
This format might not prove popular with everyone, as it’s not traditional. However, we have to acknowledge that rallying has evolved: everything is going towards a sprint format in terms of pacenotes and memorizing stages by watching videos. We live in a world where entertainment is just as important as the sport, so long as sporting integrity isn’t compromised.
Opening up Thursdays to be more relaxed, with entertainment as the primary goal, is certainly something I believe we, as a championship, should consider as we head into a new phase of our history.
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