FIA picks two-man team to evaluate future of rallying

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) has formed a two-person working committee to evaluate the technical, sporting and promotions aspects of the World Rally Championship (WRC) and report its findings within two weeks.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council Strategy session at the ongoing Annual General Assemblies Week in Baku, Azerbaijan, appointed the FIA deputy president for sports Robert Reid and Dave Richards to the committee.

Their express purpose is coming up with practical solutions for the WRC which is facing many challenges, like all other traditional sports, struggling to retain a restive young generation leaning towards digital delivered infotainment.

A press statement from the FIA said: “Under consideration will be the technical, sporting and promotional aspects of the FIA World Rally Championship. The group will also address the pathway for grass roots development of rallying.

“An initial working paper will be presented for consideration by the WMSC and WRC Commission within two weeks.”

Richards, the world championship winning navigator for Ari Vatanen in 1981, is credited for bathing the iconic Blue Subaru Impreza WRX Sti World Rally Car which scaled the heights of success, producing three world champions -Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg.

Richards ran the Subaru World Rally Team under his high-performance car-tuning company, Prodrive, and commercialised the WRC by introducing television productions through his company, International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC), which he purchased from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone in 2000.

The last ISC Safari Rally, 52-minute TV production wrapping up the 2002 edition was entered by the ISC in a British TV station Channel 4 competition and surprisingly won a bronze medal in the “features documentaries” category.

Robert Reid co-drove Richard Burns to victory in the 1998 WRC Safari Rally aboard a Mitsubishi Lancer EV0 8 and the duo also won the world title in 2001 in a Subaru Impreza WRC with Dave Richards by their side at the victors’ rostrum.

They have been described as a dynamic duo with deep knowledge of the evolution of the WRC from its heyday as a competition attracting many factory teams from Toyota, Subaru, Peugeot, Ford, SEAT, Mitsubishi, and Citroen in the 90s.

Fully-fledged factory teams

Richards understands the intricate commercial value of the WRC, its fledgling fortunes amongst manufacturers as only two fully-fledged factory teams from Toyota and Hyundai, and the privately owned M-Sport for Ford are involved in the championship. Another concern is the fewer young drivers graduating to the pinnacle of the sport.

Rally’s authoritative blog, Dirt Fish, has already raised a red flag on the future of the WRC as less younger drivers are being exposed at the highest level of competition.

“Fast-forward five years, and the WRC’s current major stars – Rovanperä aside – will be at or approaching retirement age; Ott Tänak will be 41, Thierry Neuville 40 and Elfyn Evans 39. While all three may choose to continue to compete full-time in the championship into their 40s, history would suggest that most drivers choose to hang up the helmet, or at least take a step back, at around that age,” said the blog in an opinion piece.

“The question then becomes who will replace them, and continue to give Rovanperä a run for his money and provide us with world-class entertainment in the process?”

The same applies in Kenya with only five young drivers going through the production line in the last three years namely McRae Kimathi, Hamza Anwar and Jeremiah Wahome through the Rally Star programme.

Samman Vohra and Rio Smith also have a realistic chance of progressing owing to availability of resources and machinery.