The first hundred days.
It’s the traditional marker of initial progress, the early indication of where an organization is going. On July 31, 101 days ago, the sale of WRC Promoter to Cosmobolis and Park Square Capital triggered a ‘landmark’ long-term commercial rights agreement for the World and European Rally Championships.
The FIA labelled it ‘the deal of the century.’ FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem talked of a ‘transformative step forward’ with ‘never before seen levels of investment.’
Now, 100 days in, what do we think?
In fairness to the main players, to Éric Boullier and Julien Vial, it’s not really 100 days for them. Understandably, having worked pretty much every day for the previous year or so, they took a short break once the deal was done.
The agreement was that we would reconvene in three weeks, in Paraguay, where a press conference would be held to talk through plans.
I’m going to be honest here, personally speaking, I thought it was a mistake not to roll out more detail off the back of the announcement of the ‘deal of the century.’ We had this huge news, the news we’d been waiting more than two years for, then we went into something of a vacuum.
I’m impatient. Always have been. I just don’t see the point of patience. And I’m nosey, always snooping and wanting to know a bit more. Those, as far as I can see, are the character traits of a news journalist. I was, I’ll admit, frustrated.
From Paraguay onwards, the detail has been coming; the meat added to the bones.
Internally, the one thing we said we wouldn’t do is pass any judgement before we got to the 100-day point. That’s today. Let’s go…
Researching this piece, I spoke to figures in and out of the service park, but it was last week’s Junior WRC announcement that I found most telling.
Talking off the record about the increased commitment to next year’s JWRC winner – with seven instead of four WRC2 outings in a Rally2 car – I dangled the question of where the money had come from.
My source took the bait.
“The promoter,” they said. “I’m not sure how much has been said, but from the start of the process of looking at what changes to make for the Juniors next season, the new promoter has been absolutely committed to delivering more value for the crews coming in.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen this sort of prize at this level – and, from what we can see, this investment is coming from WRC Promoter. OK, of course, they are working a lot with M-Sport and with the FIA, but [the] promoter is driving this.”
Was this the work of WRC Promoter COO Julien Vial? He wouldn’t be drawn on the specifics of investment.
“David,” he said, “we are not here for the copy and paste.”
If you want a one-sentence précis of the first 100 days, it’s right there.
This piece is not about bashing the previous WRC Promoter owner. For two years that company was in limbo. Decisions of any strategic significance couldn’t really be taken, and as for investment, put it this way: if you’re selling your house, you don’t build an extension at the same time.
That stalemate was always going to offer something of a spotlight for the new owner to shine in, once in position. But let’s not kid ourselves here: it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Vial and Boullier. They landed into a land where the season finale, Rally Saudi Arabia, was about to be canned and there was growing disquiet on the whereabouts of next year’s calendar, not to mention the apparent lack of take up on new technical regulations.
Now? They’ve dropped a blinder of a 2027 schedule, which includes a return to America after almost 40 years and British forests echoing to the sound of rallying’s top-flight for the first time since 2019. And 13 (14 planned) rounds this year has bounced to 15 for next season.
With Saudi gone, Sardinia became the new final round. And what a way to go out. We started our week on the Italian island with the outstanding news of Ford’s return to the WRC.
The news of Ford’s return was always going to be inordinately welcome, but it was the manner in which the Blue Oval came back.
Ford Europe president Jim Baumbick said: “It’s important that you know that ‘rally-bred’ for us is not just marketing words. We’re not talking about styling ads and things like that. This is a promise that we want to make to our customers. We are all about emotion and unlocking emotion, and we want to put the soul and responsiveness and capability of rally into these vehicles.”
Those words still give me goosebumps.
Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook added: “The timing is very opportune as we align with a new era for WRC, very visionary promoters coming in now with more cost-effective, smarter rules from the FIA with the 2027-and-beyond regulations we have.”
This is what we need: manufacturers understanding what the WRC is all about and why, pound-for-pound, it has the potential to deliver the most extraordinary return on investment. And why is that? Relevance. Whatever car Ford rolls out for the 2029 Monte Carlo Rally, we’ll have heard of it, we’ll be able to relate to it and folk will want to purchase it (or its road car equivalent) when they see it competing and winning.
Formula 1’s nice, it’s very fancy and all very swish, but they might as well be driving spaceships. How are you and I supposed to make any coherent correlation with the Mercedes-AMG F1 W17 E Performance?
And then there was the other end of the week in Sardinia. The final 150 meters and two corners.
Talking to Oliver Solberg about the moment that cost him a world title, I referred to it as a heart-breaking moment. He put a finger in the air to interject.
“Iconic moment.”
He’s absolutely right. It was, of course, a heart-breaker for him and Elliott Edmondson, but it was also a moment which put the WRC firmly back on the map. How? By delivering the human side of the story. Not just for Solberg and Edmondson, but by going into the Toyota command center and getting in among the team, with a sharp focus on each driver’s respective engineer.
For Rui Soares, there was the desperation of Evans’ Sunday morning puncture. But that paled into insignificance when Steffan Williams’ demonstrated just how quickly a laptop could be closed when your dream turns to a nightmare.
Simultaneously, there was the lone figure of Petter Solberg and his reaction as he heard – then saw – tragedy being pulled from the jaws of a famous triumph. The flip-side as Gwyndaf Evans shook his son, shouting at him that he was, indeed, a world champion.
Yes, the sport delivered the circumstance, but it was the decision-making of Boullier and Vial that delivered the show.
“More cameras means more stories,” they offered.
How right they were.
And when the dust finally settled on the beach in Sassari, there was a sadness at the end of the current specification of Rally1 cars. That lasted a while. But now? Forget the last dance, Tanäk’s back and he’s ready to tango.
I was fortunate enough to watch Toyota’s 2027 car testing earlier this week and, trust me, these cars are going to be anything-but nervous. They’re lively, with a comparatively aero-free fidget in every corner. Sure, they’re not going to be drawing black lines for miles on dry Tarmac, but there’s an absolute purity about this formula which is going to make for a fascinating two years to come.
The partnership of the WRC Promoter and the FIA has already moved the sport on. Granted, there have been some tweaks to the regs and we could still use more detail about next season, but get onboard with 2027.
As I pointed out at the top of this piece, I was genuinely concerned at the end of the first three weeks. Now? Complete volte-face. I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing how a Rally1 WRC Car lines up against a Rally1 WRC Kit Car and just what kind of curved ball a Rally2 car will be capable of delivering.
Oh, and, for the first time in donkeys years, when my mates say: “I love rallying, but I just don’t know where to find it…” I can remind them its alongside Wimbledon and Match of the Day. It’s on the BBC.
Happy days. Happy 100 days.
