“The remit of the Rallies Commission covers all of rallysport except for the WRC, which especially takes in the regional rally championships. I expect my role will be to work very closely with Yves and the head of FIA's Rally Sporting Regulations, Arnaud Crepin. “My position means I have a seat on the World Rally Championship Commission (WRCC), which keeps me in touch with such matters as technical regulations.“I am expected to encourage national rally championships as well, hopefully to use my position to lead championship rallying in the required direction, rather than simply to stand back and report to the FIA on what's going on. “I think the Commission has a responsibility to lead innovation, lead championships to be progressive, and to try to put in place positive growth so that they are successful.”
The APRC is one of several regional rally championships struggling with low entry numbers.
“It worries me that we actually have lost a little bit of direction. For so many countries Group R cars, R5 are simply too expensive, and the R1 and R2 concepts don't really seem to have taken off as well as what you would like.“Group R4-Kit seems to be more of a replacement for Group N, but has been a wee bit slow in coming on stream. “A number of countries have, meanwhile, come up with their own regulations. The challenge is how we encourage countries that have already made that step to embrace R4.”
AP4 cars are proving to be popular in New Zealand and Australia. Photo: Peter Whitten
“In my country we developed the AP4 concept. Now we have nine or 10 different makes involved. All the cars look different. I understand that a lot of the local distributors have got behind this concept, which is a good thing.“My role is to encourage the growth of rallying round the world. The FIA, however, speaks about global concepts of competition cars such as 1.6 turbo engines. It hasn’t been lost on me that Australasia has gone off in a different direction! “While the AP4 concept is being developed, there is a three year moratorium and many cars use 1.8 litre engines, but from the 2020 season cars will need to have a 1.6 litre engine to be classified as AP4. “Part of the problem is that the 1.6 engines have been very expensive and relatively unreliable. People prefer to downsize a 1.8 engine which is a bit more reliable, doesn't cost quite as much, but certainly there is only a place for the 1.6 engines from the 2020 season.”
Wayne Christie is hopeful that Rally New Zealand still has a chance of a WRC return. Photo: Geoff Ridder
“Competing at the top level in New Zealand is already costly enough, but we have such good roads and we get good competition. Drivers don't feel the need to progress because they are getting their fill of rallying here in New Zealand.“We have spoken with CAMS (the Australian federation) quite a bit on how we might grow the Pacific Cup concept which currently forms part of the APRC championship. “Between us we have not really been able to come up with a solution there, and our various championships sometimes overlap as well, so that we would need to tweak the calendars for something to work.” MH: Finally, has the concept of another World Championship Rally in New Zealand died down, or do you think it is going to continue? WC: “Behind the scenes some work is being done to try and bring Rally New Zealand back to the World Rally Championship. Certainly we would love to have it back.
“It is a great showcase for New Zealand and rallying here. We know we produce a good rally, we know that the roads and the organisation works.“We also know the distance to come to New Zealand is an issue, and we also know that in New Zealand we simply don't have bucket loads of money coming from the government and other organisations to fund something like this. “So there is a lot of work to be done, and if we get it back that would be great.”
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
Love rallying? You’ve come to the right place.
Our team share the passion for rallying.
A subscription to RallySport Magazine gives you superior rally content from Australia, New Zealand and around the world – with deals, offers and experiences nobody can match. Our team is dedicated to providing an unrivalled experience that shares, supports and promotes the sport of rallying.
BASIC MEMBERSHIP
$79.99 / yearSign up now
Sign up now$7.49 / monthSign up now
Sign up nowPREMIUM MEMBERSHIP
$171.00 / yearSign up now
Sign up now$14.25 / monthSign up now
Sign up now
