The first round of the 2012 WRC series is next weekend. The Prodrive Countryman (Rallyman ) JCW MINIs will be there. As many have already learned, without a title sponsor the team is somewhat cash-strapped so may not run every rally. Also, only Dani Sordo is expected to drive all the rallies they attend, Kris Meeke's seat is being sold to the highest bidder at each venue, hopefully a local. That last bit dampened my enthusiasm somewhat but I expect it to return with the first rally next weekend in Monte-Carlo. There are also privateer MINI teams signed up for the season -- Armindo Araujo and Paulo Nobre -- so there should always be MINIs to root for. Here's a Monte appetizer: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP31PY07YQs]Test Dani Sordo Mini WRC Monte Carlo 2012 - YouTube[/ame]
What's up with him wearing the "Red Bull" helmet? Is that left over from his former employer? When they say "no titled sponsor" does that mean no sponsor at all, or only one putting up part of the money? It is really funny, but after all that has happened, I really did not get as excited about that clip as I did before. :frown2: Jim
Not sure about the Red Bull helmet but it's possible Red Bull is a personal sponsor for Sordo. Just like the teams, drivers often have their own sponsors who support either the driver, the team or both with cash or other resources in exchange for commercial endorsement, including stickers and labels attached to who/whatever they're sponsoring. Red Bull on his helmet may mean Red Bull is sponsoring Sordo and may even have paid the team some money to keep Dani in the seat...that's completely conjecture on my part, though it definitely does happen. A title sponsor is usually a source of HUGE cash/resources and part of the deal is the company/corporate name of the sponsor ends up in the team name. You see this in pretty much every big racing series and it's why some teams have ridiculously long names, like Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team in Formula 1. Sometimes the sponsorship comes at the expense of a driver's seat, as was the case last year for the Ford Abu Dhabi team where one of the team drivers was Abu Dhabi’s Khalid Al Qassimi. Ford's Abu Dhabi sponsorship ended in 2011...is that why the Ford team's 2012 future was in doubt for a while and they couldn't sign drivers, etc? Probably. Here are examples from the WRC (see last year's list on the WRC Teams page): Citroen Total World Rally Team - Total is a huge lubricants company. Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team - I think that one is self-explanatory... Monster World Rally Team - Monster Energy drinks (another Ford team) Munchi's Ford World Rally Team - Munchi's is a chain of ice cream parlors in Argentina FERM Power Tools World Rally Team - FERM is a Dutch producer of hand power tools (another Ford team) My guess is that all along the deal between Prodrive and MINI/BMW was that a title sponsor was needed in order to run a full season in the WRC. They probably figured that given MINI's rally heritage, some related advertising plus a bit of exposure in rallies in 2011 would attract someone with deep pockets looking to associate themselves with MINI's return to the WRC. Still speculating here...when no title sponsor offered big bucks Prodrive wanted corporate to fill the gap and they said no, it's not in the budget.
Good explanation Steve. So no "one" car manufacturer sponsors their own car? I always knew there were other sponsors, but I thought Ford, Citroen etc, were the main sponsor of their car. Dani's helmet looks just like the one Loeb wears, so I thought it might be from those days, maybe a slam of sorts. He did not wear it last season. Don't get me wrong. I will still support "MINI" (the car) strongly in the 2012 season, just not so much the "factory team". They not only lead Kris down the prim rose path, but the rest of us too. Jim
This is Pierre Campana, the MINI team's second driver for the Monte, also testing. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX7qjW4D1Io]Essais Monte Carlo 2012 Neige Pierre Campana [HD] - YouTube[/ame]
"WRC Era in Rallye Monte Carlo - with pure engine sounds (1997-2007)" [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aIWshNTcfo]WRC Era in Rallye Monte Carlo - with pure engine sounds (1997-2007) - YouTube[/ame]
Updates on wrc.com are very sparse lately. I finally found the Monte schedule elsewhere. Lifted from citroen-wrc.com (local times, I'm sure): Wednesday, 18 January 2012 8.00am: Start – Valence 9.03am: SS1 – Le Moulinon – Antraigues 1 (36.87km) 10.21am: SS2 – Burzet – St Martial 1 (30.48km) 12.46pm: Service Park A – Valence (30 min) 2.21pm: SS3 – Le Moulinon – Antraigues 2 (36.87km) 3.39pm: SS4 – Burzet – St Martial 2 (30.48km) 5.52pm: Service Park B – Valence (45 min) Thursday, 19 January 2012 7.55am: Service Park C – Valence (15 min) 9.33am: SS5 – Labatie d’Andaure – Lalouvesc 1 (19km) 10.14am: SS6 – St Bonnet le Froid – St Julien Molhesabate – St Bonnet le Froid 1 (25.22km) 11.37am: SS7 – Lamastre – Gilhoc – Alboussière 1 (21.66km) 12.57pm: Service Park D – Valence (30 min) 2.50pm: SS8 – Labatie d’Andaure – Lalouvesc 2 (19km) 3.31pm: SS9 – St Bonnet le Froid – St Julien Molhesabate – St Bonnet le Froid 2 (25.22km) 4.54pm: SS10 – Lamastre – Gilhoc – Alboussière 2 (21.66km) 6.02pm: Service Park E – Valence (45 min) Friday, 20 January 2012 8.44am: Service Park F – Valence (15 min) 10.02am: SS11 – St Jean en Royans-Font d’Urle (23.28km) 10.43am: SS12 – Cimetière de Vassieux – Col de Gaudissart (24.13km) 3.11pm: SS13 – Montauban sur Ouvèze-Eygalayes (29.89km) 7.56pm: Parc fermé – Monaco Saturday, 21 January 2012 1.15pm: Service Park H – Monaco (45 min) 3.11pm: SS14 – Moulinet – Col du Turini – La Bollene-Vesubie 1 (23.41km) 3.54pm: SS15 – Lantosque – Luceram 1 (18.81km) 5.53pm: Service Park I – Monaco (30 min) 7.34pm: SS16 – Moulinet – Col du Turini – La Bollene-Vesubie 2 (23.41km) 8.17pm: SS17 – Lantosque – Luceram 2 (18.81km) 9.32pm: Service Park J – Monaco (45 min) Sunday, 22 January 2012 9.05am: Service Park K – Monaco (15 min) 10.11am: SS18 – Sainte Agnes – Col de la Madone (5.16km) 11.04am: Service Park L – Monaco (10 min) 11.17am: Finish – Monaco
I sure hope the Monte has loads of snow this year. It just seems right & proper that it should. Snow Snow Snow!!!!
Here's Rally Sport Live's hopeful spin on the driver situation at the MINI WRC team. Change in philosophy at Mini creates opportunity for Sandell, Campana (RallySportLive.com)
In other words, follow the money and if ya get a win here and there, cool. BMW is clearly not serious about WRC. All this controversy is getting the MINI name in the press, good or bad, which seems to be what they want. It is all just a game, but then, most professional sports are and nothing to be taken too seriously. Yes, Crash, I drank the Kool-Aid on this too, but it will be back to bourbon from here on and I will merely view the rally results at the end of the day through a blurry eye. Jim
I agree that both driver's buying their seats bring talent along with $$$$$, but it just feels so very wrong to let Kris swing in the wind after he was promised a ride. I wonder how many other rides he had turned down because he was told he had the MINI ride. Maybe Kris could bring some Kool-Aide $ponsor$hip with him. If he did I'd drink some Kool-Aide. :beer
I have to agree with you Jim on this. Whatever BMW/MINI is doing good or bad the name is in the press with Dakar, WRC and the new line up of Coupé releases. If only capturing some of the general masses, certainly for us die-hard-in-the-wool MINI gear heads the kool-aid intake levels have increased. Speaking of which after a nip, I plunked down for some of the limited edition WRC long-sleeve black and white team shirts, a hat and a new replacement shirt for my daughter at the official WRC gear store. I also must have drunk a growler of the stuff, because I hit the buy now button with Aaron and the JCW Brembo kit for my R53 ended up in my cart :wink: . Ouch, my contribution for support.
Starting to believe more and more that BMW has back downed due to the uncertain TV coverage, as has been mentioned.
Yep, had a conversation with a client of mine who is a producer for SPEED and that is what they said. Presently, future WRC TV coverage is rooted in very weak soil....not only financially, but from the poor ratings here in the US... :frown2: Seems that WRC is in the proverbial Catch 22 here, it is, but it isn't.
Yup, that was my guess as to one of the reasons Ford wavered and then Prodrive/MINI held out to the point they originally missed the extended deadline to register the team for the 2012 season. I'd say the questionable nature of the season itself (i.e., whether it would happen at all) was the main reason but the way coverage has waned gradually over the years and the possibility of it shrinking drastically in 2012 came close second. I also think that experiment they ran with live coverage in France raised expectations to the point the uncertainty of coverage levels in 2012 seems an even more severe curtailment.
One would believe that all things considered, televising a WRC event is not an inexpensive endeavor....:eek6: So if we reconsider it from a business perspective, we may have been a bit too harsh on BMW/MINI. After all it, it wouldn't serve them well to spend millions in WRC, to only have it on page two in the sports sections of the newspaper....no matter how much we, the fans want it.
I won't post it here but if anyone's interested there's a Summary of Regulation Changes for 2012 posted at RallySportLive.com.
I wonder what the cost is for running in WRC versus DTM. Is the coverage of both that much different here in the US.