WRC Season ArchiveRally 

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Last time the WRC came here, hotels & B&Bs jacked up their prices for visitors and team personnel. I heard that in some cases, accommodation for the Monte Carlo Rally would have been cheaper than for the Ireland Rally!
 
Circuit of Ireland is insanely expensive to get to at the moment, never mind if it rejoined WRC. In England I can go to WRC Spain for less than it'd cost to go to the Circuit of Ireland this weekend.
 
Since this appears to be the catch-all rally thread...

Detail of the Audi Group S prototype.

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Gallery
 
prisonermonkeys
The Circuit of Ireland is looking to rejoin the WRC:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123656/ireland-renews-push-for-wrc-slot

The FIA admits that there's not much of a market for the event, but they reckon that if it can be run on both sides of the border with long-term government support, it would be very difficult to say no.
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If Ireland will be added will a round be removed? If no tarmac round get removed there would be 5 Tarmac rounds (yes Spain is mixed but mostly tarmac) if I had to choose a new tarmac round I would like to see Sanremo back again, I know Italy already have Sardinia but since France already have two rounds on the calendar why not? I know they call it Rally Monaco but the rally is really taking place outside of that tiny state, just like in F1 they called the Imola round San Marino even though Imola track is laying outside of San Marino.
 
Simmpa
If Ireland will be added will a round be removed?
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There's no word as yet. The 2015 season will see four and a half manufacturers compete (Ford give their blessing for M-Sport to use the Fiesta RS, but don't support the team financially), which makes a calendar expansion a much more viable prospect since the sport is no longer dependent upon privateer teams to sustain entry lists. The calendar could probably support sixteen rounds, which hasn't happened since the 1990s.

However, if rounds were to be dropped, Argentina and Sardegna are the most likely candidates. Argentina was put on notice last year after serious safety issues, and their presence from 2017 hinges on this year's event. The FIA has already forced the organisers to change the 2016 route, since they wanted to use roads featured in the Dakar Rally, but the FIA felt that the average stage speed would be too high to be safe; it's currently capped at around 130km/h. It hasn't helped that Argentina was pushing for an endurance format, which had the backing of Jean Todt, but has fallen out of favour with promoters; Mexico ran the 80km El Chocolate stage this year, but found that it was impractical at best.

Otherwise, Sardegna is perpetually under threat. It has suffered funding problems and a low spectator turnout for a while now, and seems to have survived more by luck than by design; there was a push to expand the calendar a few years ago, with events touted in Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa; China got the nod, but while the FIA wanted a second round, the Russians lost interest, while South Africa and Brazil never got past the candidature stage. Sardegna survived by default. And unlike the perpetually-unpopular Alsace event - which was only really run because it was Sebastién Loeb's home event - there is no alternative like Corsica; there appears to be no real desire to go back to Sanremo. Short of finding a new event in Sicily or southern Italy, the rally seems to be stuck where it is, and given its problems, it's a prime candidate for replacement.
 
prisonermonkeys
There's no word as yet. The 2015 season will see four and a half manufacturers compete (Ford give their blessing for M-Sport to use the Fiesta RS, but don't support the team financially), which makes a calendar expansion a much more viable prospect since the sport is no longer dependent upon privateer teams to sustain entry lists. The calendar could probably support sixteen rounds, which hasn't happened since the 1990s.

However, if rounds were to be dropped, Argentina and Sardegna are the most likely candidates. Argentina was put on notice last year after serious safety issues, and their presence from 2017 hinges on this year's event. The FIA has already forced the organisers to change the 2016 route, since they wanted to use roads featured in the Dakar Rally, but the FIA felt that the average stage speed would be too high to be safe; it's currently capped at around 130km/h. It hasn't helped that Argentina was pushing for an endurance format, which had the backing of Jean Todt, but has fallen out of favour with promoters; Mexico ran the 80km El Chocolate stage this year, but found that it was impractical at best.

Otherwise, Sardegna is perpetually under threat. It has suffered funding problems and a low spectator turnout for a while now, and seems to have survived more by luck than by design; there was a push to expand the calendar a few years ago, with events touted in Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa; China got the nod, but while the FIA wanted a second round, the Russians lost interest, while South Africa and Brazil never got past the candidature stage. Sardegna survived by default. And unlike the perpetually-unpopular Alsace event - which was only really run because it was Sebastién Loeb's home event - there is no alternative like Corsica; there appears to be no real desire to go back to Sanremo. Short of finding a new event in Sicily or southern Italy, the rally seems to be stuck where it is, and given its problems, it's a prime candidate for replacement.
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I think you have bad memory or just made a very bad typo WRC got It´s first 16 round calendar in 2004 and ended in 2007 after wich one round was dropped to 15 in 2008 and in 2009 the calendar got shopped. What are the reasons for not returning to Sanremo? It used to be very popular back in the day, I once saw a video on wrc.com that spectator safety was a big problem and reason to move to Sardinia. If they remove Sardinia I wish they could replace it with a rough gravel event like Cyprus, and if they will have a 16 round calendar I wish Japan and New Zealand returns.
 
Simmpa
What are the reasons for not returning to Sanremo?
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There's just no local demand for the event. As far as I know, it's still run as part of the Italian national championship, but it's not a part of the European Rally Championship. I imagine that they feel that they cannot compete with Monte Carlo - especially since the event moved to Gap - given the similar characteristics of the event and the geographical proximity; some stages of both rallies run pretty close to the French-Italian border. Alsace had a similar problem with Germany.

Plus, the Sardinian government will fight to keep the event where it is because of the boost to tourism.
 
prisonermonkeys
There's just no local demand for the event. As far as I know, it's still run as part of the Italian national championship, but it's not a part of the European Rally Championship. I imagine that they feel that they cannot compete with Monte Carlo - especially since the event moved to Gap - given the similar characteristics of the event and the geographical proximity; some stages of both rallies run pretty close to the French-Italian border. Alsace had a similar problem with Germany.

Plus, the Sardinian government will fight to keep the event where it is because of the boost to tourism.
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Where else would be good place to host a WRC event in Italy? I would like to see an Italian tarmac event like San Remo maybe one close to the alps? A rally wich would be shame if it did not return would be New Zealand, now with a kiwi driver. I wish Australia and New Zealand could co-exist.
 
Unless i've fallen to photoshop or an upgraded Dirt Rally render - 2017 WRC Citroen spied.

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Spied would be the wrong word as they invited a bunch of press over to see it. (Public) Test 1. Private test lost count.
 
Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb has ruled out a return to the WRC with Toyota.

Getting either Loeb and Petter Solberg - much less both - seemed like pretty wishful thinking from Tommi Mäkkinen.
 
prisonermonkeys
Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb has ruled out a return to the WRC with Toyota.

Getting either Loeb and Petter Solberg - much less both - seemed like pretty wishful thinking from Tommi Mäkkinen.
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I think both Loeb and Solberg are pretty much done with wrc. Solberg will probably move on to Dakar next year.
 
[Nor]MclarenF1
I think both Loeb and Solberg are pretty much done with wrc.
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You could only really make the case that they have unfinished business - Loeb chasing a tenth title, while Solberg is probably regarded as one of the drivers who didn't win as many titles as he should have (but I think that by the end of his career, he was just filling a seat).
 
Rather it goes unresolved and they go to New Zealand if I'm honest. The Australian round has been pretty poor in recent years.
 
boiltheocean
Rather it goes unresolved and they go to New Zealand if I'm honest.
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It's really not difficult - they tried to vote on three things in one sitting. However, because one of those things was a payment from the council to the organiser, and because one councillor is on the executive committee of the organisers' company, it was deemed a conflict of interest. All they have to do is reconvene without the councillor in question, and the resolution can pass.

If they don't renew the contract, the organiser is already talking about finding a new home in another host city. Failing that, I imagine that the calendar would be scaled back or the event replaced with Ireland. I doubt a return to New Zealand will happen, since there's apparently no interest in having a rally there. Australia and New Zealand were originally supposed to share, with each hosting a rally every other year, but New Zealand lost interest.
 
prisonermonkeys
I doubt a return to New Zealand will happen, since there's apparently no interest in having a rally there.
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No interest? I´m sure there are scores of kiwis who wants to see Paddon drive on home soil, now if Coffs Harbour won´t organize Rally Australia will they go back to Perth?
 
Simmpa
if Coffs Harbour won´t organize Rally Australia will they go back to Perth?
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I doubt it. Perth willingly gave up on the event. The organisers have said that if they can't run in Coffs Harbour, they'll find a new host venue. I imagine that they would just do what they did with Coffs Harbour - take a round of the Australian national championship and restructure it as a World Championship round. The International Rally of Queensland would be the most likely candidate, since it's already a round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. The Scouts Rally SA might also work. Or they could even take the Targa Tasmania.
 
JML has had another one of his chicken-or-egg crashes; the suspension failed when he struck a rock at speed, and he rolled it, but the suspension was already stressed. So the question is whether he would have had the accident anyway.

Whatever the outcome, it's put Hayden Paddon in the box seat - he's got a thirty-second lead with fifty-five competitive kilometres to go. If he pulls it off, he'll be the first New Zealander to win a rally outright.
 
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