WRC Promoter CEO Eric Boullier has spoken publicly for the first time since the promoter sale was agreed, reassuring rally fans with the news “we will never ever change the DNA of rally.”
Joining FIA president H.E. Mohammed Ben Sulayem and Cosmobolis chairman Jean-Louis Mosca at the press conference during Rally del Paraguay, Boullier laid out plans for the future of the World Rally Championship.
“There is,” he said, “one thing I would like to emphasize first: we will never ever change the DNA of rally. So, we can reassure everybody, all the stakeholders in the sport and the fans first: never, ever will we change the DNA.
“One thing we’re going to obviously work on with the FIA is to try now, because rallying obviously is the most spectacular sport… but nobody talks about it anymore. And that’s the issue today: we want to bring back WRC and ERC (European Rally Championship) to where they belong.
Rally del Paraguay was the second WRC event with new management in place – but the first where its new owners laid out its vision
“We’re going to work, obviously, on the format of the event. We’re not going to change much. Some of the rallies [for example] Finland or Estonia, have been working on a single stage on the same day. That’s the kind of format we’re going to focus, which is going to allow us, thanks to the FIA, to work on a better product, which we can make it easier for the fans to attend, but also better to broadcast and show to the people who cannot come, what is WRC.
“The second point will be, obviously, the media platform. We’re going to reshape completely the media platform because we want to get to the new century – that was the deal – obviously to bring more digital.
“We need to be more present on the social media, we need to be able to catch a new audience in the future, which is not only a hardcore audience. By doing this, we will make them create the wish that they want to come and attend the rallies in the future.
“And the last point is to make our sport a business platform and a sustainable platform for the teams, for the OEMs, for the car manufacturers, for everybody who wants to come and compete, to have a place where they can also operate with some accessibility some hospitality. We want to reshape a little bit to make sure we can welcome the fans, welcome the companies, welcome the CEOs.”
Having a single Sunday stage with a centralized fan area – dubbed WRC Arena – is a key component of the new WRC Promoter management's plans
Focusing more on the fan aspect, and a new approach to WRC Saturdays, Boullier added: “We’re going to be completely, let’s say, client-oriented. We’re going to look for welcoming more fans; Thursday, Friday, Sunday we might keep the format as it is for the hardcore fan and there is millions found in the world. They definitely want to be there they want to enjoy the experience.
“What we want to change is from the Saturday night, we want to make it more an entertainment platform – a festival, so then we can bring and welcome everybody to the service park.
“And we’re going to rename it WRC Arena because we want to make a place where people want to be, [and] to be seen. Maybe for influencers or whoever, but we want people to be there and to enjoy the place and enjoy the rally.
“And having one single stage on Sunday allows us as well to facilitate the access. One stage you can make some park and ride, make sure you can finally show the product and, if I may say this, you can get the people close to the cars in action.”
