y.m.m.v

WRC In Short

“The World Rally Championship (WRC), a series of motor sport events staged around the world, is poised to rival the popularity of Formula One.”

There are some strange ownership and rights issues in my opinion though.

• David Richards, a former World Rally champion, chairs International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC) which acquired all the TV and commercial rights to the WRC from Bernie Ecclestone (of F1 and FIA fame).
• Mr Richards is the owner of Prodrive, which allied to Subaru races in the WRC and won the title last year.
• Mr Richards is the agent of Collin McRae, an out-of-favour (due to monetary demands) former WRC champion now racing in the Dakar with Nissan.
• Mr Richards is also now the team principle at B.A.R. (British American Racing), the “ecurie” of former F1 driver, Jacques Villeneuve.

As chairman’s statement of Prodrive, David Rivhards says:

In motorsport, we’ve won our sixth World Rally Championship title, won four outright victories with Ferrari in the American Le Mans Series, took the GTS class win at the 24 hours of Le Mans, competed in the US Rally Championship, launched Ford Performance Racing in the Australian V8 Supercar championship, and continued to manage and run the B.A.R. F1 team.

Hmm, don’t you spot some “conflicts of interest” ? Or is it safe to say that the “Entertainment” aspect of the sport is approaching the WWE

( read more )

Posted by petergun at January 11, 2004 02:28 PM