The Long Winding Road: The Politics and Development of the World Rally Championship [Der lange kurvenreiche Weg: Die Politik und Entwicklung der Rallye-Weltmeisterschaft]

Tickell, Samuel; Evens, Tom; Naess, Hans Erik

Abstract

This chapter concentrates on the journey of the World Rally Championship (WRC) from its amateur roots to a professional championship with its current ownership with the WRC Promoter formed by Red Bull Media House and KW25. With a focus on innovation the World Rally Championship has been able to achieve what many previously thought impossible through live coverage and online streaming, with a direct connection between the sport and its fans. First the chapter will focus on the path from loosely structured events to a cohesive, professional world championship. The roots of the sport go back to the early 1900s before the Championship was formalised in 1973 and, in 1996, the commercial rights to the WRC were bought by International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC), owned by then F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. The sport experienced political ramifications after influence from the European Union, ownership from ISC, and later, North One, the sport came to the brink of collapse before resurrection as a contemporary sport under the WRC Promoter ownership. This chapter will examine the current ownership and how decisions influencing media, the cars and the ruleset are intertwined. Finally, the chapter will focus on the future of the sport as they develop their product and the relationship with the fans and juggle tradition with modern sporting and commercial pressures.