There are no plans to merge the World Rally Championship with the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, despite the possible long-term involvement of pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport in both series, according to Jean Todt, president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, motorsport’s world governing body.
Eurosport, which owns the IRC, confirmed on Friday that it was in talks to take over as the full-time promoter of the WRC following the FIA’s termination of the North One Sport agency’s contract to promote the series. Todt said the FIA was also speaking to other potential promoters.
“[The two series] work to different matters,” Todt said. “The World Rally Championship is the FIA’s world championship. Intercontinental Rally Challenge is a commercial series; it is nothing to do with the FIA. Some parts of IRC are part of the European Rally Championship.”
Todt said he was optimistic that a long-term partner for the rally championship would be found before the next event in Sweden on February 9.
The 2012 World Rally Championship got underway last week, with Eurosport stepping in at short notice to replace North One as the production, broadcast and distribution partner of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally. Eurosport said it was in negotiations with the FIA to extend the partnership “for the remainder of this and following seasons.”
Todt said that improving television coverage of the championship was a key goal for the FIA, although he acknowledged it would be challenging.
“In the situation of the World Rally Championship, including the TV coverage, it was not done as much as we wish it had been done and we look forward to the opportunity to improve significantly the situation in the future and that’s where we will grow,” he said. “This is part of the developing programme. We are going to work strongly with the promoter which will be chosen, we will definitely address this: we need TV coverage. We are well aware that TV coverage on world rally is more difficult than Formula 1. It will take time, but we are working on it.”
The FIA president also said he wanted the championship to have more rallies staged outside Europe. This year only three of the 13 rallies are scheduled to take place outside Europe.