With the WRC promoter set to change, DirtFish gleaned opinion from the service park
Photography by Hyundai & Red Bull
Words by Alasdair Lindsay
When news first broke that WRC Promoter was looking to sell back in March, Thierry Neuville was already preparing to get the champagne out.
Standing in Safari Rally Kenya’s media zone, Neuville was not shy about his opinion on the outcome of a potential sale.
“I would throw a big party first, that’s for sure,” he told DirtFish.
Returning to the present, an FIA-run tender process is now underway to determine the new rights holder. On offer: the next 25 years of commercial rights to the World Rally Championship.
Neuville’s response then was a touch tongue-in-cheer but underneath it was a clear desire for change. Fast forward from spring to fall in the northern hemisphere and his Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak was the most forthright.
Asked by DirtFish for his opinion on a promoter change, Tänak replied: “It’s definitely critical.
Tänak was firm that lowering the cost of competition would not be a silver bullet
“It’s important to see, first of all, who’s going to be the new promoter and what are they going to bring. We need somebody with some very different views [to the current promoter].
“There’s been a lot of talk about the sport being too expensive and this and that, and changing the technical regulations. But in my point of view, this is not going to change anything.”
WRC Promoter currently holds the rights to both the world championship and the European Rally Championship. The latter uses the widely-praised Rally2 regulation set as its top-level class, which Tänak feels proves a point that reducing costs or performance equalization won’t be a magic fix.
“We can see ERC, where everybody driving the same cars, is very competitive,” he said. “But nobody’s following [the championship], so it’s not that. And if you look at the Tour de France, guys are pedalling and still the budgets for the teams is close to 50, 60 million [euros]. And they are cycling while we are driving rally cars.
“Clearly, it’s not the cost which is the problem at the moment, it’s somewhere else. I really hope that somebody new will bring something [different].”
ERC is currently promoted by the same company as the WRC
Neuville was in a more diplomatic mood after news of the promoter tender process dropped.
The champagne from his aforementioned party had been put on ice. But the world champion is now impatiently waiting for the process to get going – and to finish in good time – after speaking with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem during Rally del Paraguay last week.
“I had a good discussion with our president and I think the tender is a good idea,” said Neuville.
“We just need to make sure it runs fast enough. We know how challenging and time-consuming tenders can be.
“I pushed him hard to make sure that the tender doesn’t take too long and that we can be ready before 2027, to get a great start into ‘27 with anything else that will be new about the championship at that time.”
Also prevalent during the Safari Rally six months ago was the fractious nature of the relationship between the WRC’s elite drivers and motorsport’s governing body. Though the two camps had been at odds back then, Neuville is now feeling optimistic the FIA’s involvement in the commercial rights sale will bode a positive outcome.
“We know the FIA needed some restructuring and work. But during those couple of years, rallying has been left on the side, which was something we have been complaining about. We don’t necessarily agree it was the good thing to do, but there’s more activation now, new things coming.
“Will it bring new manufacturers? We don’t know. But at least if you can get the promotion up to the level where it belongs, the championship can get back to a high [level]. And that will bring sponsors and manufacturers.”
Team-mate Adrien Fourmaux was also keen that the tender process be wrapped up quickly.
“We need a new promoter,” said Fourmaux. “We need to get it as soon as possible, because it also interferes with the regulation that is coming. So for me it would be nice to have a new promoter as soon as possible.”
One common theme among the service park has been a need for innovation after a promoter change is implemented. Gus Greensmith, once a factory M-Sport Ford driver and now plying his trade in WRC2 with RaceSeven, pointed to F1’s ballooning popularity since it was taken over by Liberty Media in 2017 and the need to consider fresh perspectives.
Greensmith reached to Formula 1 as a clear example of what can be done
“The precedent has been set by Formula 1 and we’ve fallen a long, long way behind that,” said Greensmith. “Speaking around the paddock with an old team principal of mine, some of the simple ideas that we could come up with in 30 minutes – which are easy to implement – would make a big difference. It’s quite astounding.
“It’s definitely the right time [to change promoter]. I hope it goes on to the right set of people to take it over because it’s my favorite sport in the world and I want to see it do well. Hopefully it’s an efficient and quick process.”
As previously reported by DirtFish, the tender process is understood to have a target decision time of three months, with an outcome believed to be revealed immediately before the FIA Elections in mid-December.
Words:Alasdair Lindsay
Tags: WRC, WRC Promoter
Publish Date September 5, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/09/qxcuclww-2025PARAGUAY_AUS_3161-780x520.jpg September 5, 2025
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