Wilson: WRC looking good for future

BP Ford Abu Dhabi team director Malcolm Wilson reckons that everything is looking very positive for the World Rally Championship now following the measures announced by the World Motor Sport Council at the end of last month.

The changes have already been heralded by FIA president Max Mosley and Neil Duncanson, chairman of global promoter ISC, and Wilson echoed those thoughts recently when quizzed by Crash.net Radio.

"A lot of positives have come out of the World Motor Sport Council meeting. The most important thing from our point of view is that the ISC is now the global promoter for the WRC. We have seen the benefits of that already and that is only going to improve," Wilson predicted.

"They have had a good influence on the calendar for next year. Okay it is not perfect. I think it will be 2011 before we see a calendar that we feel is really the way to go and take the sport forward. But it is great to get pillar events back in the championship, which weren't going to be in - like Finland, GB and Spain. That is a big positive step.

"Technical regulations, okay, 1.6 turbos - there is no question that is the way to go in the longer term. Whether we can actually achieve that for 2011, we will have to wait and see. But overall everything is positive.

"I think there were more decisions made than ever I have known in a World Council meeting about World Rally. It bodes well for the future."

Asked about next year's calendar and why it is not 'perfect', Wilson added that the major issue is the number of long-haul events.

"At this point in time everybody is looking at cost, and there is no question that next year's calendar is expensive with almost five flyaway events there," he confirmed. "Unfortunately we will have to live with that because it is part of the rotational system.

"But as I said I am more thinking positive for the future and for 2011 onwards we will have a really good calendar.

"There are a lot of good events now. Poland is one such example. They did a fantastic job recently. The amount of spectators was probably the most we have seen in Europe for many, many years.

"There are a lot of new events that are going to be vying for places on what will hopefully be the perfect calendar for 2011."

So will more manufacturers now join the WRC in the future as a result of the announcements made?

"I think so. There is certainly a lot of interest, although there is still a lot of work to do and there has never been a more difficult time in the motor industry to encourage new manufacturers' in.

"But with the way things are going and the way they are looking to reduce the costs, it is all looking positive," he concluded.

TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH MALCOLM WILSON: CLICK HERE