The FIA has a new president after many years of management signed by Jean Todt. This is Mohammed Ben Sulayem, former rally driver and today the new top of the International Automobile Federation, the body which, among the many tasks in its possession, has that of giving the present and future line of the main motoring world championships.
Among these there is also the WRC, fresh from a regency of Yves Matton just ended with the farewell of the latter after the natural end of the presidential term of Jean Todt. This upheaval will certainly lead to important news regarding the future of off-road racing.
To announce it, and not too veiled, was the new president of the FIA, Ben Sulayem, who will certainly have an eye for the most followed categories, but has every intention of restoring prestige to the WRC as well. We are not talking about a lack of enthusiasts, but of the manufacturers involved.
Since the end of 2019, with the release of Citroen Racing, the WRC has been contested by two and a half manufacturers. We are talking about Toyota, Hyundai and, in part, Ford, assisted by the presence of M-Sport which, in reality, has often done the most important part of the preparation and development work of the blue oval cars.
“We often talk about Formula 1, but we can’t forget the other disciplines. For example, we have to look at the WRC. I’m a man who comes from rallies, so we have to look at that too.”
“It is not enough to have 2 and a half constructors in an important championship like this. We cannot sit and think that people come alone, to us. I feel that we will have to go knock on the constructors’ doors and make sure to make our sport attractive. for them”.
“I can say that there are manufacturers who are looking at the regulations, studying them and evaluating them,” said Matton (the then head of the FIA’s Rally Department) last June.
“They are not designing a car, they are more trying to understand how these new cars could fit into their marketing plan. I would say 2023 is too close for me. I think the minimum time and window needed to do something is two years. “.
The COVID-19 pandemic first and the direction taken by the FIA over the past 24 months, however, has led to a stalemate. For this reason Ben Sulayem intends to put his hand to what the WRC regulations are to bring it back to the glories of the past.
“It’s a question of cost,” added FIA President Ben Sulayem. “You know, we start with rally cars with a $ 100,000 cost cap and then they jumped to $ 200,000. Yes, there is when it comes to inflation, but it can’t double.”
“We have to control the cost. I drove Rally3 recently and it can do the job of a World Rally Car, it’s not the same speed, but the cost is much lower. Secondly, introductory accessible vehicles.”
“We have to involve people from the area itself in the love of motorsport and regions like Africa and Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and even Latin America, but can they afford it? No. These are some of the areas that we must touch “, concluded the new president of the FIA.
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