NO PRIVATEER CHAMPIONSHIP FOR 2016 CARS

The FIA has confirmed there will be no new World Rally Championship for privateers next season.

With tighter controls over who drives the next generation World Rally Cars in 2017, there had been speculation that the governing body would sanction a new title for private drivers using 2016-specification cars. But FIA rally director Jarmo Mahonen told MN this will not be the case.

“We want to encourage the private drivers to come in the current cars,” Mahonen said. “But at the same time we have to be careful not to screw the [WRC2] R5 competition, which has been really good. We are still talking about this one and we’re going to find a solution, but it’s out of the question to make another FIA title for another [privateers’] championship.”

There had been talk of the current 2016 cars being banned from the WRC – a move which would be impossible given their homologation under current regulations.

“We can’t stop privateers from using these current cars,” said Mahonen, “it’s good to have them with us. What we won’t do is we won’t give them a passport to continue the homologation beyond the next two years – that’s when the current cars will reach the end of their lifecycle. Driving the current cars does make sense for those drivers looking to make the step to a 2017 car.”

Mahonen pointed out that the last time the FIA introduced a second-tier World Rally Car category it was taken over by the manufacturers. In 2006 Manufacturer 2 teams were permitted with restrictive regulations over what specification of car and how much success a driver had. Eventually, M2 teams became known as WRC Teams – which is where the second-string Volkswagen Motorsport II and Hyundai N squads run.

“If we look back in history, look what happened in WRC Teams,” said Mahonen, “the manufacturers came and ran full teams – that’s not what was intended. We have to be careful.”

The FIA has already made clear its intention to control the number of drivers competing in the next generation of World Rally Cars next season; the last meeting of the World Motor Sport Council confirmed entries will only come from manufacturers and any private entries must be sanctioned by the governing body.

M-sport’s client liaison manager Rich Millener maintained there remained a case – and the demand – for a privateer 2017 series.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of the teams, those running our cars and other cars,” Millener told MN. “There are some common points coming out, the most important thing is they want to fight for some sort of an FIA title. If we can get another six or seven guys in to do a calendar of seven events mainly in Europe then we can have a good championship.

“There are guys out there who don’t want to drive R5 cars and we have to consider them. At the same time, it’s important that we keep the current cars there to bridge the gap between R5 and the 2017 cars. The [performance] gap between R5 and a current World Rally Car is big, but the gap to next year’s cars will be even bigger.

“Having said that, we don’t need to alienate the true privateers by allowing young [career-minded] drivers to come into any series we agree on.”

Millener accepted that a series would have a limited shelf life due to homologation.

“I agree that we’re looking at a couple of years,” he said. “But in those couple of years, it’s important we keep our cars as well as the Citroens and Hyundais out there. These cars are still very exciting and entertaining to watch. We’ve had a lot of feedback from the guys out there competing and we want to do what we can to develop something in time for next year. We don’t want to devalue WRC2, but the demand for this is coming from the drivers.”

Quirin Muller, team manager of Martin Prokop’s Jipocar Czech National Team said he wasn’t holding his breath for any kind of private award next season.

Muller said: “We are waiting since four seasons for the privateers’ championship which is promised every year to come for the next season. We will see what happens. The 2017 car is no discussion for us: if we want to drive a World Rally Car, we want to run the car ourselves.”