– The World Rally Championship (WRC) has a new owner following the takeover of WRC Promoter GmbH by the French automotive technology platform Cosmobilis and the financial investor Park Square Capital. This owner has now presented their vision for the future of rallying for the first time.
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The new owners, led by former Lotus and McLaren Formula 1 team principal Eric Boullier, have presented ambitious plans to take the WRC and the European Rally Championship (ERC) to the next level. The fans are to be at the center, making the rallies more exciting, accessible, and overall more attractive.
During the Rally Paraguay, which Toyota driver Sami Pajari won, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, WRC Promoter CEO Boullier, and Jean-Louis Mosca, Chairman and CEO of Cosmobilis, informed the media about their plans for the future.
While the new owners of the WRC presented their ideas for the further development of the championship, CEO Boullier also made it clear that the DNA of rallying will remain untouched. “One thing I want to emphasize first,” said the former Formula 1 team principal.
“We will never, really never change the DNA of rallying. That is the statement. We will never change the DNA,” Boullier stressed. “One thing we will of course work on together with the FIA is the attempt, because rallying is obviously the most spectacular sport, but no one talks about it anymore.”
The WRC should come back into stronger focus
“And that is the problem today: We want to bring the WRC and the ERC back to where they belong.” Boullier explained that changes to event formats and an improvement of the current media platform with the goal of addressing not only hardcore fans but also a new audience are a central part of the vision.
This also includes making the rallies themselves more accessible and fan-friendly by converting the service park into a so-called “WRC Arena.” The Frenchman also emphasized that attending the events should remain free of charge for spectators whenever possible.
“We will of course work on the format of the events. We will not change much. Some rallies, for example Finland or Estonia, have already worked on a single stage on the same day. That is the kind of format we will focus on,” Boullier added.
“Thanks to the FIA, it will allow us to work on a better product that we can make more accessible for the fans, but also better broadcast and show people who cannot come what the WRC is.”
“The second point will of course be the media platform,” said the Frenchman. “We will completely redesign the media platform because we want to enter the new century – that was the agreement – and of course focus more on digital.”
New media strategy and digital presence planned
“We need to be more present on social media, we need to be able to reach a new audience in the future that does not only consist of hardcore fans. This will awaken their desire to come and visit the rallies in the future.”
“And the last point is to make our sport a business platform and a sustainable platform for the teams, the OEMs, the car manufacturers, and for everyone who wants to come and compete. A place where they can also operate with appropriate accessibility and hospitality.”
“We want to redesign a lot to ensure that we can welcome the fans, the companies, and the CEOs,” Boullier gives a glimpse into the future. “We will rename it [the service park] to WRC Arena because we want to create a place where people want to be and want to be seen.”
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“Maybe for influencers or whoever, but we want people to be there, enjoy the place, and enjoy the rally. And a single special stage on Sunday also allows us to facilitate access.”
The service parks are to become the “WRC Arena”
“At one stage, you can set up park-and-ride offers, ensure that the product can finally be shown, and, if I may say so, bring people close to the cars in action,” the former Formula 1 team principal is convinced.
A stronger involvement of manufacturers in the World Rally Championship has long been a topic. Since 2020, only Toyota, Hyundai, and Ford – the latter in a semi-factory partnership with M-Sport – have formed the backbone of the championship.
From next year, the WRC will receive new technical regulations that are essentially intended to be more cost-effective. The cars, limited to a cost of 345,000 euros, will be built on spaceframe chassis, are expected to offer similar performance, and share some components with the current Rally2 vehicles.
Currently, however, Toyota is the only mainstream brand committed alongside tuners Project Rally One and RMC Motorsport. Nevertheless, Boullier remains confident that more brands will join soon.
“We have already started some talks with many of them [the manufacturers],” Boullier told Autosport/Motorsport.com, a sister platform of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network. “First, of course, we considered the manufacturers already represented in the WRC.”
New rules are intended to attract more manufacturers
“There is no perfect world. We can never make everyone happy, but we have taken their concerns into account. They want a stable platform. We have a ten-year agreement with the FIA. They want costs to be addressed.”
“I believe that with the new formula, considering everything, we have at least halved the budget compared to today,” Boullier emphasizes that the current decisions have already taken the first step toward a better and successful future.
“They want to be able to showcase their technology. We have technically considered that [from 2029], and that is why the platform will be extremely attractive if we can bring the WRC back to where it belongs in terms of popularity.”
Eric Boullier relies on the global strength of the Rally-WM
“We are a global platform like Formula 1, so we run 14 or 15 rallies all over the world. We go to Africa, we go to Asia, we go everywhere, to South America, and it is important to maintain this global orientation because ultimately only Formula 1 and we are set up like this.”
“So we have taken all their concerns into account,” the new CEO of the WRC promoter is convinced. “I am very confident that we will soon see the announcement of some of them [manufacturers] entering the WRC.”
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