Earlier this week, the FIA World MotorSport Council decided on next years formula in the WRC. Most parts of decision just confirmed the decisions from an earlier meeting between manufacturers, teams and ISC in Paris (read more about that meeting here)- but one very important detail was added in the WMSC decision – the fact that Super2000 and current WRC-cars will run side by side in 2010. Is that good or bad? I’m not sure, but here are the pros and cons from what I can see:
Pros:
- Car manufacturers get more time to develop their Super2000-cars – and also test them in the championship for real before the competition gets sharp. I know that Citroen, among others, appreciate that.
- WRC cars open for a larger start field, where privateers with WRC cars as well as current WRC teams can enter their current cars. If not, very short entrylists in the beginning could be a possibility – which would have been boring to fans and expensive for organisers.
- The two car classes can be compared to each other side by side, and put some extra edge to both competition and development.
Cons:
- 2010 can become yet another transitional season, where Super2000-teams don’t register because they’ve got no real chances of winning – and where WRC teams start to fall off as their car wont be allowed in the coming years.
- Understanding of the sport for newcomers can become harder, where two types of cars with very different specifications compete side by side.
- The two car classes can be compared to each other side by side, and put some extra edge to development – in other words; the same point as in pro’s above. So, why would this also be negative? Because the escalation of development could be speeded up by the teams wanting their Super2000 to get closer to WRCs, which would mean also an escalation of costs.
No matter if good or bad wins above, I think the decision is mainly good to the sport in longer terms. Let’s hope that manufacturers and teams take the chance to use 2010 for testing, so we can have really sharp competition starting immediately in 2011. Super2000 – here we come!
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Tags: 2010, 2011, costs, development, escalate, fia, side by side, super2000, wmsc, world motorsport council, WRC
I believe justifying this decision in terms of cost is completely wrong: I don’t think forcing current teams to develop three cars (current WRC, S2000 and future 1.6T) in the same number of years, two of which will be brand new, qualifies as a cost-saving measure…
The move is probably meant to attract manufacturers who have S2000 cars currently under development to the World Championship, but I’m not sure how keen they might be to enter them into events alongside current WRCs. The performance difference is simply too great, and as a sponsor I wouldn’t see much value in sponsoring a team with zero chance of a good result. Only poppa Munchi’s can afford something like that.
That means that whatever money teams invest in the development of their S2000 cars will only last them for two years before they need to change to the new 1.6T spec (which would be undoubtedly closer to the mass market cars of the near future). To me, that seems like an awfully short time to recover the investment. Solberg is right when he says “We can look at the rules again later on when we’ve got all the manufacturers together”; I think the championship should be given some time to settle before thinking about moving on from S2000.