2021/2022 World Rally Championship

  • Thread starter Rossell2
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Me too. Just redbull.tv

Tried WRC+ multiple times but not convinced for a year membership. Had it for some Monte and Deutschland + the rallys around these two in the month to see the full onboards but the 30 minutes Fr, Sa, Su are just enough + sometimes longer onboards on youtube some time later. Most of the power stages are also live on TV here by the Austrian/German RedBull Tv station Servus TV. But the livestreaming experience for WRC is just not convincing. Wasn't and I guess will never be satisfying watching live 3 days time trialing. Just doesn't work for TV/streaming. 30 Minutes highlights do work to see all the action.
 
Watching rally Croatia a sad fact occurred to me, these new gen cars are visibly less agile and don't sound anywhere near as nice. In fact I think they sound awful off the line in launch control. They look cumbersome to drive and far less exciting. I'm not sure if I can be bothered to watch much more, and I've been watching every season every round since 97.
 
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Pfei
There are fans here but this thread doesn't get much traction.
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Also doesn't help that the only way to get full coverage as an American (as far as I'm aware) is to have the WRC app on your phone, and then pay a monthly subscription to watch the races. I usually just check the standings on wikipedia every now and again, though it sounds like the Croatia round had a lot happening.
 
We`ve already seen how they are, slow, cumbersome and reluctant to change direction throughout corners compared to last year. The best years are behind us now :(
 
ColinNZ
Will be interesting to see if anyone has an answer to Kalle's dominance; nothing seems to faze him this year.
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It has been unbelievable. I think Hyundai will push him hard IF the car does not implode again. I hope M Sport will have competitive drivers next year...
 
Zaccheus
It has been unbelievable. I think Hyundai will push him hard IF the car does not implode again. I hope M Sport will have competitive drivers next year...
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That's just it, nothing against Kalle but Hyundai have enabled this situation with their fragile cars. Biggest mistake Tanak made, be would be a multiple world champion by now if he had stayed with Toyota.
 
Big bummer that Breen is out already, but we seem to have a good fight in our hands.

Kalle is once again doing amazing as the first car and Evans seems to have a great touch today.

Tänäk is doing everything he can with the Hyundai even though he clearly isn't happy with it.
 
There is pretty clear delineation in this rally between the drivers, but multiple small fights going on. Lappi just can't catch a break... I wonder if he will get the third seat next year or not if Ogier is out completely.
 
Breen and Lappi have been very unlucky.

I'm not a huge fan of drivers picking and choosing a handful of events to compete in. It ruins the season for the drivers they're sharing cars with.
 
God damn Kalle... It's just absurd the form he is in.

Elfyn definitely did everything he could and had a great rally, but like he said himself there is just nothing he can do to match Kalle's speed.
 
Zaccheus
Really no rally fans here? Croatian was un-f-believable. Some truly edge of your seat type stuff.
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I used to be a huge fan but I got really sick and tired of several things:

1. Manufacturers with zero commitment who quits for the sillies reason (Citroen quit because Ogier moved to Toyota)

2. Good talented drivers who where interesting to follow getting their careers destroyed because of No 1. I so wanted to see Andreas Mikkelsen become WDC with VW

3. Lack of compeditive drivers, how many motorsports have had 2 drivers dominate for almost 2 decades? (Loeb and Ogier)

4. Drivers only participating in few events and force young talented drivers to sit on the bench (Sebastien Loeb)

5. Too short race distance, the total distance is set to max 350km before it was 500km max. and with stages getting cancelled on a regular basis the rally is over in an instant

6. Media promotion is really bad, why not make WRC+ for free?

7. Drivers constantly getting punctures. Can´t they bring back the anti-deflation devices? (got banned in 2008 season) It´s so frustrating see a driver doing well and all of a sudden getting a puncture and it was not because the driver drove careless.

8. Rallies everyone wanted to see on the calendar never got there even with a huge fanbase. Remember we all wanted to see Hayden Paddon drive in New Zealand
 
The seeds of the decline started in the late ‘90s when David Richards pushed to change rally formats from long, linear adventures with chase servicing to short, compact cloverleafs with repeated loops and centralized service parks. A lot of the character of the sport was lost with this decision, which ironically was made for TV, which the FIA then never really pursued or got right.
As stated in previous posts, having only 2 guys from the same nation win 17 out of the last 18 championships is also a killer.
Some of the rules changes to increase the spectacle have also diluted the sport as well. I personally stopped paying attention after they changed the rules to let retired cars re-join.
Really a classic case in mismanagement/neglect by the FIA because in the space of 20 years, the WRC has gone from a prominent area of motorsport with lots of stars and a decent amount of media coverage to a niche discipline that has to be sought out by those who still care.
 
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They still doing the distance but it's not timed anymore since there are 2000-3000 km driving between the stages on public roads. It just isn't possible to have 1000 or 2000 km timed stages driving with high speed in between normal traffic nowadays in most countrys.
Ok they still run the Mille Miglia in Italy like that or the Carrera Panamericana both in the old cars but this is just a case of time someone innocent gets killed and this will be banned. Also a bit different running the 50-60-70+ old cars or the ulta fast WRC machinery in public traffic full trottle.
 
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toastet
They still doing the distance but it's not timed anymore since there are 2000-3000 km driving between the stages on public roads. It just isn't possible to have 1000 or 2000 km timed stages driving with high speed in between normal traffic nowadays in most countrys.
Ok they still run the Mille Miglia in Italy like that or the Carrera Panamericana both in the old cars but this is just a case of time someone innocent gets killed and this will be banned. Also a bit different running the 50-60-70+ old cars or the ulta fast WRC machinery in public traffic full trottle.
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The only rally that had competitive sections amongst traffic was the Safari.
All other events used special stages closed to public vehicles.
 
No surprises in the Shakedown, but it's fun to see that all the drivers really like the Rally. Hyundai is immediately shooting down any ideas that they can compete which is fair.
 
Watching Tanak flooring it is a sight to behold! I'm reminded of Kris Meeke - whilst he was fairly accident prone, I really miss him in the WRC.

Simmpa
I used to be a huge fan but I got really sick and tired of several things:

1. Manufacturers with zero commitment who quits for the sillies reason (Citroen quit because Ogier moved to Toyota)

2. Good talented drivers who where interesting to follow getting their careers destroyed because of No 1. I so wanted to see Andreas Mikkelsen become WDC with VW

3. Lack of compeditive drivers, how many motorsports have had 2 drivers dominate for almost 2 decades? (Loeb and Ogier)

4. Drivers only participating in few events and force young talented drivers to sit on the bench (Sebastien Loeb)

5. Too short race distance, the total distance is set to max 350km before it was 500km max. and with stages getting cancelled on a regular basis the rally is over in an instant

6. Media promotion is really bad, why not make WRC+ for free?

7. Drivers constantly getting punctures. Can´t they bring back the anti-deflation devices? (got banned in 2008 season) It´s so frustrating see a driver doing well and all of a sudden getting a puncture and it was not because the driver drove careless.

8. Rallies everyone wanted to see on the calendar never got there even with a huge fanbase. Remember we all wanted to see Hayden Paddon drive in New Zealand
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The manufacturer issue is the sport's main one I feel. Given there weren't a ton to begin with, Citroën leaving did dampen my enthusiasm a fair bit. There were rumours of Subaru coming back but that didn't lead anywhere it seems. I think motorsport isn't the big advertising/PR coup it was once back in the past. I mean, in terms of teams doing everything themselves, F1 only has Mercedes, Ferrari and Alpine. That being said, it seems the WEC is going to be the main place in terms of constructor involvement.

In terms of the WRC+ stuff, Red Bull TV used to stream a live stage, now it's just highlights. I think to get interest, putting some stages live on YouTube for free may help promotion wise. GT World Challenge's become a fairly big thing due to ACC and the fact it's free to watch on YouTube must bring people in.
 
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Tänäk has done an amazing job wrestling that Hyundai today. I don't think it's enough to win thought, tomorrow will be hard.

Watching Soldberg bin it in the second turn was heartbreaking.
 
Tanak's onboard was something else. Keeping up with Kalle in an inferior car is a monumental achievement. Imagine it'll go down to the wire between those two. With his current pace can see Kalle ovetaking Lappi easily.
 
PorscheFan91
Tanak's onboard was something else. Keeping up with Kalle in an inferior car is a monumental achievement. Imagine it'll go down to the wire between those two. With his current pace can see Kalle ovetaking Lappi easily.
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Agreed. Tänäk will either win or drive out, those are the only two options. Kalle will win against Lappi especially since Lappi broke his windscreen and can't see. 🙈
 
I used to follow WRC religiously. Lately I found myself enjoying the European Rally Championship more. Feels more like old school rallying, and as far as rallying goes I've never cared too much about the speed of the cars. Sadly in the U.S. the ERC is nearly impossible to follow as well - it used to show up on YouTube with people posting long Eurosport coverage....now that's more or less gone.

The ERC channel does fairly useless 1-2 minute segments, etc.

I've felt the same way about WRC for a while - their promotion sucks. It should be the most popular motorsport in the world given the insanity/danger/speed/locations of it - but it just has zero presence on quality media. They had a short spell in the early 2000's where they had good TV coverage, available back on Speedvision etc.
 
TheElbows
I used to follow WRC religiously. Lately I found myself enjoying the European Rally Championship more. Feels more like old school rallying, and as far as rallying goes I've never cared too much about the speed of the cars. Sadly in the U.S. the ERC is nearly impossible to follow as well - it used to show up on YouTube with people posting long Eurosport coverage....now that's more or less gone.

The ERC channel does fairly useless 1-2 minute segments, etc.

I've felt the same way about WRC for a while - their promotion sucks. It should be the most popular motorsport in the world given the insanity/danger/speed/locations of it - but it just has zero presence on quality media. They had a short spell in the early 2000's where they had good TV coverage, available back on Speedvision etc.
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US is a tough market. F1 has been trying for years and that's the actual biggest motorsport in the world.

Both WRC and ERC are shown fully here and there is local coverage with commentators, studio discussions with many ex and current rally drivers as well as the international programming produced by WRC/ERC... but Finland is a historic Rally country. There is under 6 million people here and still in SS1 there was 20000 spectators.
 

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