FIA President Jean Todt has insisted that he wll not be rushed into making important decisions about the future of rallying, but has admitted that the sport faces a number of challenges in the coming years.
Todt talked about the sport for the first time publicly this week at the launch of the World Rally Championship earlier this week, and he warned the media about the current crisis in the sport and revealed his fears that making hasty decisions under pressure could make the situation far worse.
The veteran Frenchman, WRC co-driver of 1981 runner-up Guy Frequelin when they lost out to, of all people, Ari Vatenen, refused to be drawn on the calendar, beyond stating that he wanted to see the sport going to countries with bigger car markets relevant to the manufacturers competing in WRC. He also declined to comment on reports that a decision was taken at the meeting of the WRC working group on Monday to commit the future of WRC to a 1.6-litre turbo engine, although it is the understanding of this correspondent that that will be ratified at the World Motor Sport Council meeting in March.
Todt said:
“We must be unsatisfied about the present situation: we have certain rallies as part of a championship distributed around the world where there are limited numbers of manufacturers. This needs to be addressed. I won’t make any rushed decisions. It’s not good to decide something now and then in one or two years you ask if this was the right decision. I’m not going to talk solely about the WRC, either. I have a responsibility for all of the sport of rallying. I’ve been elected for 100 days and I’m not a magician.”
Jean Todt
Citroen team principal Olivier Quensel said that he fully believed that the 1.6-litre engine would be used next season, and also confirmed that Citroen had already started working on the new specification power-plant. The finished Citroen DS3 WRC, fitted with that 1.6-litre engine, will start its testing in September.
