Sulayem: WRC is healthy even with three manufacturers

The FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, believes that World Rally Championship is healthy even with three manufacturers and the decision to switching to the hybrid cars was right, but the championship will continue being sustain if more manufacturers will enter to the series.

World Rally Championship has left with only three manunafacturers since 2020 when Citroen Racing decided to withdraw its factory team after Sebastien Ogier joining Toyota three years ago. At the end of 2016, one more car brand decided to leave WRC as it was facing financial problems after the US government revealed some irregularities of Volkswagen on its cars. However, Citroen, Volkswagen and Skoda have some programmes running in WRC2 class, but not at the top level. Since WRC entered to hybrid era, Stellantis Group, Skoda and Alpine have expressed their interest to involve in WRC if the current regulations will be changed in the future.

"It is not just about the manufacturers, it is about the whole package, the drivers are there but I feel where we take the events is very important and the coverage and the spectators", Sulayem said.

"I do feel that we need more manufacturers to sustain the WRC and we should keep on trying to bring more, but even with three manufacturers it is healthy as long as we sustain it and make sure that the new regulations are done correctly.

"I feel, to make the balance we need at least one to two manufacturers to come in. 

"Then the competition will be there more. 

"I believe the change to Rally1 was right, last year was a big test for everyone.

"I believe a rally driver can adjust straight away and that was the case but then there was some issues with the reliability and now that the reliability is much better, talking about the hybrid, the power is there.

"So definitely the rules, we need to sustain them, make them sustainable, and this is why there are some changes that will happen. 

"But we have to use what we have and then come up with more flexibility when it comes to the regulations".

Source: Motorsport.com

Photo Credits: Toyota