Andrew Wheatley wants no more than five manufacturers in WRC

During the Acropolis, Andrew Wheatley has been very busy. For the FIA ​​rally director, it was imperative to find common ground between the three teams involved (Toyota, Hyundai et M-Sport) and Compact Dynamics the supplier of the hybrid unit. Despite his busy schedule, English still took a moment to give his point of view on one of the challenges that concerns the WRC : the arrival of other manufacturers.

“Today, we have three brands in Rally1, Wheatley listed. There are also 2 in Rally2 with Citroën and Skoda and one in Rally3 with Renault." When he was asked if it wouldn't be better if these 6 actors all played in the same category, he had a surprising answer. “Do you think it would be that good?”, he smiled. Do you think having 6 manufacturers would be a good thing? I think we would have the opposite problems to what we have today. I worked in a team when there were 7. I am well aware that it was a great time for the media with a lot of stories to tell. The downside was that many teams could not justify the investments made. With 16 or 18 cars at the start, if you finish between 13th and 15th place it's not enough and it becomes complicated. »

The former member of M-Sport recalls the years when Citroën, Peugeot , Subaru, Ford, Seat, Skoda, Mitsubishi… lined up WRCs offering fields with around twenty official cars among which there was admittedly a small share of victories. One by one, the manufacturers left the scene to arrive at the current situation where questions hover over the presence of M-Sport next year and Hyundai in the more or less long term.

A maximum of 5 manufacturers in WRC

« For me the perfect number would be 4, assures the one who succeeded Yves Matton. Just look at what happened in 2017. The four cars (Yaris, Fiesta, C3 and i20, Editor’s note) could win and everyone was able to get on the podium. Winning the championship had been incredibly difficult. If we had 5… that would be wonderful. Yes, it would be great to have this type of “problem” to deal with. Having 6 would be way too complicated. What is important is to reach one of the first three steps and it would become impossible to satisfy all the players. »

Wheatley often surprises with his ability to constantly be positive and it is not always possible to agree with him, especially when he says “ that the WRC is going through a good period. » It is easier to adhere to his defense of the current season: “ We spent a lot of energy this year looking at how to make the WRC better, he analyzes, but not enough to highlight the fact that all three teams won and that there were 6 different winners while we have 8 regular drivers. »

When the remark was made to him that this is precisely one of the problems of the championship, he recognized that there was indeed a lack of Rally1 and that if a 4th manufacturer were to get involved, this would perhaps make it possible to achieve at 12 Rally1s at the start of all rounds, which would give a better image of the WRC. The challenge is significant, but the stability of technical regulations beyond 2024 and then 2027 can perhaps offer prospects.     

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