New FIA Rally Director - Jarmo Mahonen

[navtheace]

GP Week : Issue 170, Page 1 (http://mag.gpweek.com/?iid=69024#folio=42)

Interesting news here, changes coming in 2014 ?

[amilk]

GP Week : Issue 170, Page 1 (http://mag.gpweek.com/?iid=69024#folio=42)

Interesting news here, changes coming in 2014 ?

Not much concrete and interesting for me at least - which is logical as he just started

[navtheace]

I think we will now start to see some simplification of the WRC by the new man in charge.

I predict a shift towards R Class cars only.

[COD]

Not much to manage after the news of today :(

[Sulland]

Not much to manage after the news of today :(

Quite the opposite, it is on weeks like this, and it becomes harder you really need a manager that are able to get in new optimism and turn the car around !
Lets hope he is made of the right stuff!

[navtheace]

Quite the opposite, it is on weeks like this, and it becomes harder you really need a manager that are able to get in new optimism and turn the car around !
Lets hope he is made of the right stuff!

Yep, just like a hotel that is not anywhere it's maximum occupancy every night after. Manager gets the simple reality check and needs to sort things out.

[A.F.F.]

IF there were a proper sub-classes, like WRC2 in planning, rallying would still be interesting. Then rich boys could play all they want with WRC and the real rallying would happen in lower level with many manufacturers and future stars :up:

[Mirek]

I think we will now start to see some simplification of the WRC by the new man in charge.

I predict a shift towards R Class cars only.

The draft was already announced some time a go (not official way though).

Since 2015 no more old gr.N1-3, no gr.A5-8 cars, no S1600, no kit cars, no R4. Current 10 classes to be changed to 7 or 8.

Only to continue:
WRC
S2000 (only "old" cars), S2000 1.6T, R5
N4 (I guess renamed to R4 later - here it seems FIA decided to go back to cheaper variant of production cars as the R4 experiment wasn't successful against the S2000)
R-GT (not for WRC events)
R3 (R3C, R3T, R3D)
R2 (R2B, R2C)
R1 (R1A, R1B, R1T?)

[PLuto]

Important is not only to set proper sub-classes, but also costs for start there. This was biggest problem in JWRC, SWRC and PWRC in last years - it was veeeeeery expensive.

[A.F.F.]

Important is not only to set proper sub-classes, but also costs for start there. This was biggest problem in JWRC, SWRC and PWRC in last years - it was veeeeeery expensive.

You hit the nail PLuto. It was expensive. This is where I keep my fingers crossed. If WRC2, meaning S2000 and R5, works, it might lure official manufacturer teams. Then the sky will be the limit :)

[navtheace]

I think there is a good chance that Jarmo Mahonen will be shifting the World Rally Championship towards the 'cheaper' R5 rally cars as the top category.

[COD]

I hardly think so. He is a marketing expert, not really a person who understands the sport deeply.

[navtheace]

I hardly think so. He is a marketing expert, not really a person who understands the sport deeply.

Which could work, in that he might want the simplicity of just the R categories for the WRC and with that he will see that more manufacturers are involved with R5.

Many things are possible, we will just have to wait and see what happens during 2013 and what is put in place for 2014.

Long time to wait of something that could be sorted very quickly if the right person was in charge, ie by not doing as Citroen request.

[navtheace]

Any update with the new man?

Surely we will see an announcement of new proposals soon?

[navtheace]

Still no one has heard anything public about what the FIA plans for the WRC in 2013.

[rallyfiend]

Still no one has heard anything public about what the FIA plans for the WRC in 2013.

What plans would you expect to hear from them? What have they released in the past?

The regulations have gone through, so what more is for them to say?