WRC Official Launch in Paris, Kimi present

Source: FIA.com

The 2010 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) held
its official launch
today (2 February) at an event at the Automobile Club de France in
Paris. The event, hosted by Championship Promoter North One Sport, was
attended by FIA President Jean Todt and a host of WRC stars, including
reigning World Champion Sébastien Loeb and former Formula One World
Champion Kimi Räikkönen, who will drive for Citroën this year.

They were joined by all
the drivers and co-drivers from the teams
registered in this year’s Championship as well as drivers from the Super
2000, Production Car and Junior World Rally Championship categories.
Also in attendance were former World Rally Champion Petter Solberg, who
will compete in WRC as a privateer this season, and California-based
action sports icon-turned-rally driver Ken Block.

It is set to be another
exciting season with a number of new measures
having been introduced to the Championship to reduce costs whilst
raising the sporting challenge and increasing media coverage.

In his
opening address at the launch, Jean Todt set out his vision
for the future of the sport, which involves further reducing the cost
barriers whilst increasing competition and improving the spectacle. He
also outlined his plans to support the grass roots development of
rallying.

FIA President Jean Todt
said:

“I’m delighted
that the World Rally Championship is heading in this
positive new direction and we will work to maintain this momentum across
all areas of rallying. There is no doubt that with a sustained amount
of development and promotion we can create a solid foundation that will
improve our sport at all levels.

“As part of this
process, the FIA yesterday hosted the second meeting
of a Global Rally Working Group which is producing a plan to develop
rallying worldwide. The group is chaired by the FIA Deputy President for
Sport Graham Stoker and comprised of representatives from the FIA World
Rally Championship, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the Dakar
Rally and other cross-country rally championships.”

   

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Source: 
WRC.com

This morning drivers from this year’s competition and a selection of
their cars, gathered for a ‘class of 2010’ photograph in the Place de la
Concorde.

From there the drivers moved to the nearby
headquarters of the Automobile Club de France, where FIA President Jean
Todt opened the official presentation.

According to the
championship’s new promoter, North One Sport, 2010 represents the start
of a fresh chapter for the WRC. While the introduction of a new S-WRC
series for Super2000 cars, as well as an expanded calendar of 13 events,
a selection of the best drivers in the world and a host of new
television deals, make this a vintage year in prospect.

North One
Sport managing director Neil Duncanson said: “This is a genuine new era
for the sport and every stakeholder involved in the WRC believes the
future is extremely bright. This year is just the start. The WRC will
become the one of the world’s premier sporting brands in the next five
years.”

The first round of 2010 season takes place in the ice and
snow of Sweden on February 11th with new cars, teams and drivers joining
the show. The sense of anticipation could not be higher, especially
with the news that world former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen and American
extreme sports hero Ken Block will be joining the ranks of the WRC.

North
One Sport unveiled television viewing statistics from last year’s
season which underlined the increasing popularity of the WRC. In 2009
the average number of television viewers per rally grew by 12 per cent,
while the final round shoot-out between Sebastien Loeb and Mikko
Hirvonen attracted a massive 61 million viewers worldwide.

And
for 2010 WRC fans around the world can expect more WRC coverage with the
announcement of a range of new television agreements.

These
include five-year deals with MTV3 in Finland and Network 10 and One HD
in Australia. Multi-year agreements have also been reached in countries
including Italy (RAI), Scandinavia (Viasat), Portugal (Sport TV), France
(Orange and Motors TV), the USA (Discovery), China (national and
regional broadcasters) and the Middle East (Abu Dhabi TV).

A
selection of further new deals for 2010 have been secured in France (TF1
and France Television), Greece (SKAI), South America (Fox Sports), New
Zealand (Sky TV), the UK (Dave and S4C) plus global news syndication via
Reuters and SNTV. A number of additional agreements will be announced
early this year.

Other initiatives planned for 2010 include LIVE
coverage from a number of events (starting in Rally Sweden), as well as
more aerial coverage from the stages. In 2011, new on-board camera
technology and state-of-the-art High Definition TV coverage will be
introduced.