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WRC: Meetings to Decide the Series’ Fate
Written by: RACER & autosport.com
RACER Magazine   http://www.racer.com/speedtv
06/24/2008
Paris, France
 
Citroen, along with Ford, is ready to leave the World Rally Championship unless significant steps are taken to stabilize the series' future. (LAT photo) ยป More Photos

The next two days will decide the future of the World Rally Championship, via a brace of high-level meetings at the home of world motorsport's governing body, the FIA.

Today's WRC Commission meeting will provide further discussion between those in the sport, while tomorrow's World Motor Sport Council meetings will ratify the decisions which will shape not only the sporting, but also the potential commercial, future of the sport.

Both Citroen and Ford have confirmed they will walk away from the sport if the right decisions concerning the future of the World Rally Championship are not made in Paris this week.

The two key issues, which are pivotal, are the appointment of a global promoter for the WRC, and the rubber-stamping of the technical regulations for the 2010 season.

Ford of Europe's motorsport director Mark Deans said: "This is a watershed moment for the World Rally Championship. It's impossible to overstate the importance of this week.

"Failure [of the World Motor Sport Council] to make clear progress in the appointment of a global promoter would put Ford's participation in the WRC in jeopardy. Ford wants to be satisfied that there is an absolute commitment to put the promoter in place and that it (the FIA) is going through due diligence before announcing the name of the promoter in September or October.

"Ford
is right on the cusp of a new contract with M-Sport and, of course, we want to stay in the sport, but it would be corporate negligence if we didn't see these decisions taken before we committed."

Deans added that the shape of that potential future participation depended on the technical regulations.

"We need to get a definite agreement on the regulations," he added. "We need to start looking at starting the development work on cars for the future, and even if that comes immediately, it's a struggle to get it done in 18 months.

"If we don't get these decisions from the meetings this week, then it's October and that's just too long - that's just over a year before they come in."

Deans' counterpart at Citroen, Olivier Quesnel, is in complete agreement.

"At the moment, the promotion of rally is nothing," he said. "Look at other sports, it's incredible. Look at DTM, it's so much more than WRC.

"This has to be (put) right for Citroen to continue, otherwise it makes no sense. And the technical details, how can I answer your question about Citroen's future in the sport when we don't even know what kind of car will be legal for the sport in 2010? We need to know the regulations so we can make decisions."

Decisions are expected to come out of the World Motor Sport Council meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
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