Subaru team boss David Richards has hit out at the FIA and slammed the current tyre regulations after the shenanigans that severely disrupted day one of the Wales Rally GB.
Richards believes that what happened on Friday was a travesty for the sport and the spectators. Indeed he is livid that the competitive mileage had to be cut by more than 50 per cent and all because competitors only had gravel tyres, while conditions were icy and snowy.
Speaking at the end of the leg, DR added that the solution is obvious and he reiterated calls for an emergency tyre should conditions be abnormal.
"It's been an extremely frustrating day. For some time now, after the introduction of the control tyre, we have said that there should be an emergency tyre available in the event of extreme conditions," he explained.
"When conditions are like today, it should be at the discretion of the clerk-of-the-course to use them. We should not find ourselves in a situation where we are not able to deliver to spectators, who have had an even more frustrating day than us.
"One of my guys drove down from Warwickshire at 6am today and hasn't seen a rally car in action. How can we turn round to the general public and say that it was too slippery for the best drivers in the world to perform? It makes a mockery of the whole sport.
"We've repeatedly spoken to the FIA about this and we've been told it's too complicated to sort out. We don't accept this."
Citroen boss Olivier Quesnel meanwhile echoed those sentiments and he also endorsed the idea of a back-up tyre for 'special' circumstances.
"The conditions were quite awful and we didn't have the right tyre. That's not the fault of Pirelli, but the fault of the regulations," he continued. "It is stupid, because today we could have made a nice rally for the spectators and competitors with an emergency tyre.
"It was bad – especially for the spectators. It was a mess. This is supposed to be a show and we need spectators, but we cannot put on a good show without good tyres. Obviously there is also the aspect of safety, and what we have been doing is not nice."
