Red Bull Media and The Sportsman Media Group have been given approval by the World Motor Sport Council to promote the World Rally Championship from 2013.
In a statement, the governing body said: “The promoter will be responsible for investing and developing the WRC with a view to increasing its profile, reputation and commercial value. In particular, the promoter, working in close collaboration with the FIA, will be focused on introducing live television and an innovative digital media strategy in the next years.”
In other exciting WRC news, the support championship structure has been revamped, while a number of cost-cutting measures have been announced. In brief:
Teams now only need contest one non-European event
As part of a cost-reduction process and to attract greater entries, the WMSC confirmed WRC Teams competing in the 2013 WRC will now only have to contest one round outside of Europe, but they are required to nominate and compete in a minimum of seven events.
Support Championship now WRC-2
From 2013, the current Super 2000 World Rally Championship will be replaced by the FIA WRC-2 Championship including cars with four-wheel drive (R5, R4 and S2000). A specific cup for cars in the Group N category will also form part of the WRC-2 Championship, and titles for teams, drivers and co-drivers will be awarded to those who have scored the most points in six of the seven events in which they have taken part.
WRC-3 replaces PWRC
The current Production Car World Rally Championship will be replaced by the FIA WRC-3 Championship, including Group R cars with two-wheel drive (R3, R2 and R1). Titles for teams, drivers and co-drivers will be awarded to those who have scored the most points in five of the six events in which they have taken part.
Junior title returns
The current FIA WRC Academy will be re-named the FIA Junior WRC Championship. The Junior title was dropped when the all-new WRC Academy initiative was introduced for 2011.
Safety first
For safety reasons and therefore with immediate effect, each crew that is entered with a World Rally Car is permitted to use a route note car on asphalt events.
More cost-cutting moves
To limit costs and encourage participation, from 2013 the use of the latest evolution of parts homologated by manufacturers will not be mandatory for World Rally Cars entered by drivers not scoring points in the Manufacturers’ Championship. This also applies to all cars in the S2000 category with a 1.6-litre turbo engine.
The 2013 FIA World Rally Championship calendar has also been confirmed.
Rallye Monte-Carlo: 20 January 2013
Rally Sweden: 10 February 2013
Rally Mexico: 10 March 2013
Rallye de Portugal: 14 April 2013
Rally Argentina: 5 May 2013
Acropolis Rally (Greece): 2 June 2013
Rally d’Italia: 23 June 2013
Rally Finland: 4 August 2013
Rallye Deutschland: Date TBC
Rally Australia: 15 September 2013
Rallye de France: 6 October 2013
Rally de Espana: 27 October 2013
Rally of Great Britain: 17 November 2013
(The dates shown above are the Sunday of each rally weekend, however, the exact itinerary of each round is subject to final confirmation by the individual event organisers.)
Source: wrc.com
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