DiRT Rally 2.0 WRX future uncertain

[Eckhart von Glan]

Local press here in Buxtehude, home of the Estering, states that there will not be a wrx event in 2019 at Estering. Three of the four manufacturers will leave WRX at the end of 2018 (Peugoet, Audi, Ford) which will leave only VW. Local organizers say this means sponsorship deals may not happen, so they decided to stage a European championship event instead in September / October.
So, with WRX down to only one factory supported team, wonder what this means for the series as a whole and hence for Codemasters.

 

[tunaphis]

RX IS Finished,Loeb without a drive.Crowd numbers low.Watch Launch Control to see what a disaster this has become.A Redbull marketing exercise that failed,Even Travis Pastrana can't fix this.

 

[tunaphis]

Good.As a stage rally fan this is rather good news.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Crowd numbers low.

not in Germany, Buxtehude was sold out, at least that's what our local press claimed. small wonder, prices are a laugh compared to other fia events.

 

[LMracer]

Good.As a stage rally fan this is rather good news.

I'm a little confused by this
I don't think there's anything that really prevents Rallycross and rally coexisting quite happily. I've been keeping up with both the WRC and WRX this year and while it's not been the mos exciting year for the WRX I wouldn't wish to see it's demise

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

RX IS Finished,Loeb without a drive.Crowd numbers low.Watch Launch Control to see what a disaster this has become.A Redbull marketing exercise that failed,Even Travis Pastrana can't fix this.

Good.As a stage rally fan this is rather good news.

Much strange here. Rally and Rallycross can exist together without any issues. Look back at the golden days of RX, it was for many the golden days of rally as well.

Red Bull marketing exercise that Red Bull have never been involved in (except for sponsoring teams. Unless you are thinking about the US "Rallycross" that wasn't RX - incidentally, you see in WRX that the same "rallycross" as they had in the US is by far the least popular.

Crowd numbers are low on non-RX tracks. However in Sweden, Norway, Germany, France and Portugal it's packed. Latvia is surprisingly filled as well.

What might happen though, is that ERX gets it's renaissance, on proper tracks. Going back to Netherlands, proper RX track in Belgium, maybe throw in another central europan/eastern european track as well. Finland have got one mighty RX track as well.

 

[pedro16]

.

Much strange here. Rally and Rallycross can exist together without any issues. Look back at the golden days of RX, it was for many the golden days of rally as well.

Red Bull marketing exercise that Red Bull have never been involved in (except for sponsoring teams. Unless you are thinking about the US "Rallycross" that wasn't RX - incidentally, you see in WRX that the same "rallycross" as they had in the US is by far the least popular.

Crowd numbers are low on non-RX tracks. However in Sweden, Norway, Germany, France and Portugal it's packed. Latvia is surprisingly filled as well.

What might happen though, is that ERX gets it's renaissance, on proper tracks. Going back to Netherlands, proper RX track in Belgium, maybe throw in another central europan/eastern european track as well. Finland have got one mighty RX track as well.

...instead of it they drop off Portugal, a proper RX circuit which solds out every year even with the crazy weather and bring it to Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) I guess money talks higher

 

[Rob Every]

If you live in Wales or Scotland stage rallying is fine, if you live elsewhere, you are limited to basically pen watching at single venues or circuit rallies, neither of which are much fun to watch.

Regarding rallycross, IMG went too far too soon, tried to appease manufacturers who are fickle as we know, then lost them all because most of them either wanted or didn't to go electric. They took the sport away from its base, proced those tracks out of it, went to venues and places where there is no interest like Turkey, Italy, Spain and Argentina and wondered why they failed.

When you look behind the scenes at what is being asked of what are private teams financially you can see why it is failing, budgets for a season of supercar only 6 years ago were 250k, now they are 3 or 4 million.

The tracks are pathetic, as is IMG's pathetic notion that they can only run at F1 venues, thereby treating fans like morons. Speedmachine was a joke, highly priced and woefully supported, practically giving tickets away the week before so poor was the sales.

You reap what you sow, and IMG have sown a huge field of rotten veg.