Will the WRC lose its European Fans?

[u/MiddleReward4468]

Hey everyone,

since the CER isn't part of the WRC next year and Wales isn't part of it either, do you guys think that the interest in WRC will slowly fade in the heart of Europe?

For me it seems like the FIA is trying to reach other markets like the arabic regions and potentially the US and slowly start to forget the countries that made rallying popular worldwide (excluding Finland, Sweden etc.)

What do you guys think?

PS: I saw some news that Germany (together with Luxemburg and Belgium) is trying to bring back the Rally Deutschland in the upcoming years. Tbh I highly doubt that, simply because of the politics and the economic difficulties that Racing is facing in Germany.

[u/armanddd]

9/15 rallies next year are in Europe

[u/Michal_Baranowski → u/armanddd]

8/14 to be precise, but we all get the point. Of all FIA-sanctioned world championships, WRC is probably the most (or one of) European-based and there are very good reasons for that.

[u/Entsafter21]

Just like they forgot them when wrc went to the middle east, Australia and new Zealand!

Oh wait, that never happened

[u/Fit-Rooster-6716]

CER is being replaced by Croatia, another European event.

• CER is hardly a mainstay on the calendar, and is unpopular among fans as is, whereas Croatia is a lot more liked.

[u/lsthirteen → u/Fit-Rooster-6716]

Not disagreeing, genuinely asking - what makes CER unpopular?

Our vacation to Prague and Vienna this fall is tied around seeing a couple days of CER, just curious what’s unliked about it.

Thanks in advance.

[u/Fit-Rooster-6716 → u/lsthirteen]

Too much liaison km to go to all three countries in the previous two years, unnecessary two SSS on Thursday in 2023 (one being in Prague), and the roads are not that spectacular. Not much flow, many junctions.

Complete downgrade to the old Rally Germany held in the west of the country in Trier.

[u/876oy8 → u/lsthirteen]

i dont think its that its a bad event. its just not better in any way than croatia or germany.

croatia quickly became a beloved new event with great roads and crazy conditions with consistently great and dramatic rallies. germany was definitely a modern era classic with with the vineyards and the panzerplatte. probably the most iconic non-historic event.

cer kind of just felt flat compared to the two comparables. not bad but kind of in a "just a rally" category to me at least.

[u/PaDaChin → u/Fit-Rooster-6716]

I don’t no about that now tbh The locals don’t want it there The German round was always a good round An even better round would be the Czech Republic round

[u/Patient_Replacement]

??? 🇲🇨 🇸🇪 🇭🇷 🇪🇸 🇬🇷 🇪🇪 🇫🇮 🇮🇹. Yeah bud I think Europe’s still the prominent continent.

This is a preference thing but I’m not missing CER too much. But I’m a gravel guy 🤷‍♂️

[u/Ok-Substance2402 → u/Patient_Replacement]

Also 🇵🇹

[u/Bossanova98]

It's a world championship not an European championship

[u/ElecXeron20XX]

Even then in the short term it is still EU focus with the current calendar having 4 overseas rallies (Kenya, Paraguay, Chile, Japan and Saudi Arabia).

[u/SplatteredEggs]

Is this rage bait?

[u/BlackBaron44]

2019 was the last running of the Wales GB rally, covid cancelled the 2020 running of the event. Itself a shadow of what it once was, focusing on centralising it to just Wales and missing out on a lot of classic stages elsewhere in the forests of England and Scotland.

Has my interest faded over the years for rallying, not in the slightest, I mainly look for events that cater for older rally cars.

With the focus being on emerging markets, I only see WRC fading in Europe if those involved from the grassroots up start to lose interest. I've seen events or countries drop from the roster to make way for a new event elsewhere and then after a period of time the old rally comes back in one form or another.

Events and the regulations constantly evolve to meet societal change whether that be economically for those involved, manufacturers, fans, etc. The Middle East and the USA have their own rally championships, the US even hosted a few rounds of the WRC with the Olympus rally back in the mists of time.

[u/madmirror]

As far as I understand it all comes down to government support - the events themselves are not profitable, so government or municipality support is required, and if provided, it's overall a net plus for the local economy. However, giving millions to rally might not be the top priority by the politicians.

[u/JustTryinToReddit]

If I went by this logic being from Canada I wouldn’t watch any sport basically lol

[u/YarisGO]

Rallies were born in Europe, the interest will never fade. Also because you are Welsh? Wales hasn't been here for years and I don't think anyone apart from the Welsh has cried

And the CER is not a historic rally, Croatia is taking its place, having already spent several years in WRC compared to CER

I'm Italian, for me it's enough to have an Italian rally in the WRC and I'm happy (fortunately they signed a multi-year agreement, probably until 2030 for a rally in Italy), then if the WRC has more rallies in Asia/Africa/Oceania I'm happy instead of having almost all the rallies in Europe

However, Larkin has already said that the heart of the WRC will remain in Europe, due to a question of costs

[u/captainsittingduck → u/YarisGO]

The interest has faded. Rally popularity is nowhere near where it was in the 80s and 90s

[u/YarisGO → u/captainsittingduck]

For sure, I see the positive side, that is that when I’m at a rally I like to be in places where there are few people

But it’s not because the WRC has scheduled rallies outside of Europe

[u/captainsittingduck → u/YarisGO]

Agree, it's a wider issue. Largely lack of competition and poor marketing which leads to a death spiral. Lower interest, less reasons for manufacturers to arrive

[u/YarisGO → u/captainsittingduck]

I also think the most restrictive safety rules

[u/SlavetoLove123 → u/captainsittingduck]

Baffled how people have downvoted this. It’s actual fact that rallying isn’t as popular now as it was previously.

[u/captainsittingduck → u/SlavetoLove123]

People don't like uncomfortable truths

[u/PaleDevil]

I don’t think Finns will ever stop loving rally

[u/Fambank → u/PaleDevil]

And for the love of God, I hope they never do. It's not only the drivers that are next level, but the fans too.

[u/jAllukeTTu → u/PaleDevil]

As long as there are successful Finnish drivers, we won't. F1 has suffered from a lack of interest from Finns since Räikkönen's retirement. Bottas was not interesting enough because he didn't fight for the championship.

[u/RoystonHodge → u/PaleDevil]

also a highlight of the calendar

[u/sjalala1]

CER wont be missed imo. Boring, definitely if it’s dry.

[u/enesracing]

Hope the WRC doesn't spell doom for us European fans like Formula 1.

[u/Xtremekillax]

No.

[u/031MINIMAL]

This reminds me of those tweets saying “F1 is abandoning Europe”. Just bullshit that’s never going to happen

[u/Brno_Mrmi]

WRC should come back to Argentina, but they're too scared of the money we give them

[u/fxb888]

no, what is cer anyways?

[u/MiddleReward4468]

To clarify the reason of my comment: I didn`t mean Europe as a whole, but the the heart of it (Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, CZ etc.) We definitely have enough rallys in Europe itself, but they are mainly in the north and the south.

But I get all of your points!

In my opinion the WRC needs a rotational calendar with some events like Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, Argentina and Finland being there every year.

Rotate for example between Spain/Italy/Croatia and Germany/Belgium/Barum Czech every year.

[u/VFC1910]

I already lost the interest on it. To expensive to follow. I have cheaper options, like F1 or WEC.