Ever wondered why a World Rally Championship driver is faster than another on a stage? From next season some of those answers will come to light through the championship’s new Command Centre concept.
For rally fans of a certain generation, Virtual Spectator provided the first clear opportunity to understand and compare drivers on a rally stage. The technology created a virtual map of the stage with cars overlayed on top of each other, which was a feature of the broadcast in the early 2000s, providing an easy way to digest multiple drivers’ progress on a stage.
The WRC now plans to bring even more data to television screens from 2025 to help lift the lid on unfolding stories and offer more insight and information, to improve its storytelling of rallies and offer more data to the teams.
Earlier this year the WRC revealed plans for its concept dubbed the ‘Command Centre’. The WRC Promoter has been working with teams and manufacturers to extract more data out of the cars and increase live interaction between the crews and their teams through Formula 1-style team radio.
Testing of the system began this summer and has now reached a point where the system is being evaluated on WRC events, with Martins Sesks’ M-Sport Ford Puma running the system in Latvia while Toyota’s Sami Pajari tested the concept in Finland last weekend.
Sami Pajari, Enni Mälkönen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
“Basically, what this [system] can do is the teams, us and the fans at home can feel more aware of what is going on with these cars,” said WRC event promoter Simon Larkin.
“We want to provide useful data but what we don’t want to get to a point where that data can be analysed by an additional performance engineer or a data analyst, because those who have money will spend money on it. We are going to do this in a rational way. We want it to be useful – keep cars in the rally but not add cost.
“We want try to have some data and we want to have some story.”
What is being developed and how will it work?
The WRC plans to launch its “Command Centre” from the opening round of the 2025 championship in Monte Carlo with the data and live team radio featuring as part of its international feed. The WRC Promoter has enlisted former Hyundai WRC team principal Andrea Adamo to oversee the concept’s development.
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