Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Friday December 13, 2024 at 4:20 p.m.
On the sidelines of the Monza rally, Thierry Neuville spoke about the decisions recently taken by the FIA concerning the future of the WRC and does not see only good ideas, particularly concerning the level of performance of future cars.
Thierry Neuville is a worried world champion. Beyond formalizing a new revision of the WRC points scale, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) lifted the veil this week on the future of a discipline in decline. In order to attract new manufacturers, the latter presented technical regulations aimed at drastically reducing costs while opening up a range of possibilities from an engine or bodywork point of view. In fact, future cars in the premier category of rallying should see their level of performance get closer to the current Rally2. Interviewed by the British magazine Autosport on the sidelines of the rally organized in Monza last weekend, Thierry Neuville confided that he saw only positives in this attempt to revive the WRC. “The basis of what they want to create is interesting, but I’m really worried about seeing Rally2 cars becoming the new Rally1 cars,” said the Belgian driver. The native of Saint-Vith is especially concerned about the development of the discipline at the national level, which is mainly done via cars in the intermediate category.
Neuville: “The proposal is interesting”
“There will be Rally2 cars that will go faster than the new Rally1 cars,” he repeated. When you start in second or third position on the road and the others start in 45th position, a private driver will go faster than an official driver. » Frustrated to see the FIA not taking into account the comments of the main players in the championship, Thierry Neuville explained why this new regulation is not unanimous among their ranks. “We are not satisfied because we offered to have a driver in the technical working group, but they never accepted,” summarized the new world champion. I think we also have a lot of interesting things to bring, but they didn’t want it. This is why we voted against, but the proposal is interesting. » While the WRC will leave aside the unique hybrid system in force since 2022 and only three manufacturers will be involved until the end of the current regulatory cycle at the end of 2026, the future of the discipline remains very unclear and will depend on the interest of potential new entrants. The possibility of adopting an electric engine could open doors.
