FIA World Rallycross Championship 2018

[tbtstt 2,387]

KingOfCoins said:

But on a positive side, the competition might be much closer now

Fully agree: this could be the best thing for the Championship next year. 

[mats27 83]

I think we could see some really interesting teams and drivers emerging. Although the loss of Solberg especially, is very sad.

[JorritVD 1,236]

Timo Scheider will enter the full WRX with All-Inkl and a new build SEAT Ibiza. Rene Munnich will enter selected rounds with a second car :)

[JorritVD 1,236]

ok. interesting. The Hansen brothers will compete in GRC Europe and not ERX/WRX.

[Ruben Correa Alves 28]

Even more RIP WRX                       

[tbtstt 2,387]

JorritVD said:

ok. interesting. The Hansen brothers will compete in GRC Europe and not ERX/WRX.

I have been told this afternoon that there is more news to come from them, so I wouldn't rule out a WRX or ERX campaign from them. 

[KingOfCoins 286]

Maybe selected WRX rounds?                                                  

[dwkGravey 0]

Meanwhile, at World RX:

Body is 17 manufacturers, teams, former champions, and drivers too short.

[gfRally 449]

Ok, so this last year/season I have not been able to follow much, other than spill over on the  gossip thread, due to the birth of my son and preparations to my house for him.  I haven't even watched an episode of launch control, since I can't have volume turned up :)

So what has happened in the world of rally cross.  I caught part or the NitroCircus RX, that was truly amazing and very old school X-Games excitement.  Whats new for this year?  Who's competing, whats going on over here in the US with RallyCross?  Is electric still a thing in Europe? (hope someone pulls the plug! Hate every thought of it)

There are like 200+ posts here to go thru and I don't have the time.  Can someone catch me up?

[Oscar97 25]

gfRally said:

Ok, so this last year/season I have not been able to follow much, other than spill over on the  gossip thread, due to the birth of my son and preparations to my house for him.  I haven't even watched an episode of launch control, since I can't have volume turned up :)

So what has happened in the world of rally cross.  I caught part or the NitroCircus RX, that was truly amazing and very old school X-Games excitement.  Whats new for this year?  Who's competing, whats going on over here in the US with RallyCross?  Is electric still a thing in Europe? (hope someone pulls the plug! Hate every thought of it)

There are like 200+ posts here to go thru and I don't have the time.  Can someone catch me up?

Basically, WRX was supposed to become huge in 2019, with more and more events at F1 tracks, like Francorchamps and Yas Marina. However, adding those tracks meant removing fan favourites like the Estering. At the same time, manufacturers were starting to lose interest in the series because what was originally a pretty cheap championship is now a big financial undertaking due to the massive amounts of money VW put into it, and also because the shift to electric, which probably isn't going to happen now, was too slow.

[tbtstt 2,387]

The manufacturers have lost interest because electric has been delayed. It was the promise of going electric that brought them all to the Championship in the first place.

The organisers need to either commit to electric and set a firm date, or scale things back (i.e. make it cheaper!) to make it more appealing to privateers. I think failure to do one of those two will result in the death of the Championship. 

[Janneman60 154]

You leave something out.... the organiser IMG made a real mess of promises, tracks nobody wants, overseas races nobody wants and failed with bringing livestream to the public. Because of the mess they made everybody seems to walk away now.

They wanted buckets of money but they get what they deserve, buckets of shit ?

[KingOfCoins 286]

And of course Kristofferson winning every event outside of Belgium RX                                                                                   

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Yeah, frankly, it looks to be almost a none event for this year, most teams aren't competing either - it will/does look like it'll be more privateer focused as a result though.

[tbtstt 2,387]

Janneman60 said:

You leave something out.... the organiser IMG made a real mess of promises, tracks nobody wants, overseas races nobody wants and failed with bringing livestream to the public. Because of the mess they made everybody seems to walk away now.

They wanted buckets of money but they get what they deserve, buckets of **** ?

Don't believe everything you read on Facebook. IMG are far from perfect, but some of this is out of their hands. 

[Janneman60 154]

tbtstt said:

Janneman60 said:s

You leave something out.... the organiser IMG made a real mess of promises, tracks nobody wants, overseas races nobody wants and failed with bringing livestream to the public. Because of the mess they made everybody seems to walk away now.

They wanted buckets of money but they get what they deserve, buckets of **** ?

Don't believe everything you read on Facebook. IMG are far from perfect, but some of this is out of their hands. 

Yeah FIA has a large part in this. Numerous good championships have gone this way. What happened to rallycross is something already predicted 3 years ago. Nevertheless IMG was warned and did nothing or atleast not enough to prevent it.

[gfRally 449]

what about ARX?  anything over here?     

[KingOfCoins 286]

Well, Speed is gonna drive for Subaru next year. VW Andretti is scaling back and Mid Ohio is having a race. 

It's shaping up to be an interesting season that one

[tbtstt 2,387]

F2CMaDMaXX said:

Yeah, frankly, it looks to be almost a none event for this year, most teams aren't competing either - it will/does look like it'll be more privateer focused as a result though.

I still think the 2019 season has potential for great racing... but only if they can attract the privateers. Dropping the US round is a good start, but I still fear that costs have escalated too far.

If we get STARD, GRX, GCK, ES Motorsport and Munnich Motorsport all entering multiple cars then it should be a close and unpredictable title fight. 

[Janneman60 154]

... and then we travel all the way to Dubai with 10 cars. Most privateers will vhoose for ERX. This year 6 races and they promise decent livestream. What you think a sponsor, else as a car manufacturer, want the team to do?

The races I watched live, apart from that WRX is hyped, the ERX show is 10 times better.

[gfRally 449]

KingOfCoins said:

Well, Speed is gonna drive for Subaru next year. VW Andretti is scaling back and Mid Ohio is having a race. 

It's shaping up to be an interesting season that one

Andretti is scaling back?  So what does that mean?  They dropped their best driver (Speed).

[tbtstt 2,387]

Janneman60 said:

... and then we travel all the way to Dubai with 10 cars. Most privateers will vhoose for ERX. This year 6 races and they promise decent livestream. What you think a sponsor, else as a car manufacturer, want the team to do?

The races I watched live, apart from that WRX is hyped, the ERX show is 10 times better.

100% agree with you. I actually want electric to happen so that the ERX can become the focus for traditional fans. Having full ERX coverage for 2019 is a massive plus for this season. 

[KingOfCoins 286]

gfRally said:

KingOfCoins said:

Well, Speed is gonna drive for Subaru next year. VW Andretti is scaling back and Mid Ohio is having a race. 

It's shaping up to be an interesting season that one

Andretti is scaling back?  So what does that mean?  They dropped their best driver (Speed).

Well, they have no longer VW support for one.

[gfRally 449]

KingOfCoins said:

gfRally said:

KingOfCoins said:

Well, Speed is gonna drive for Subaru next year. VW Andretti is scaling back and Mid Ohio is having a race. 

It's shaping up to be an interesting season that one

Andretti is scaling back?  So what does that mean?  They dropped their best driver (Speed).

Well, they have no longer VW support for one.

So, VW is out of rally completely now?

[RodgerDavies 933]

gfRally said:

KingOfCoins said:

gfRally said:

KingOfCoins said:

Well, Speed is gonna drive for Subaru next year. VW Andretti is scaling back and Mid Ohio is having a race. 

It's shaping up to be an interesting season that one

Andretti is scaling back?  So what does that mean?  They dropped their best driver (Speed).

Well, they have no longer VW support for one.

So, VW is out of rally completely now?

There will be an awful lot of their R5 customer cars around in a year or two's time. They did say their works WRC2 team may make an outing or two this year (they debuted the car in Spain last year).