WRC - MIA... again.

Last year, after the World Rally Championship season started in February, it took until April for highlights to start showing up on TV.

This year, they may not show up at all. Assuming the season actually happens in the first place.

The problem is that the WRC's main sponsor - North One Sport - was sold last year to Convers Sports Initiatives - a Russian-owned company that in the end, turned into a $1.6 billion case of fraud. Ouch.

North One Sport provided the WRC's website, smartphone apps, TV coverage, and of course, sponsorship money. When it tanked, the WRC very nearly tanked with it.

There were serious questions as to whether Ford was even going to field a factory team this year. At the last minute though, they committed to another two years. Unfortunately, it came so late, that their lead driver (and world champion runner-up) Mikko Hirvonen had already signed a contract with rival Citroën, since his contract with Ford had expired. Citroën was looking to replace their number 2 driver (Sebastien Ogier) who had left the team after too many conflicts with management and number 1 driver (and reigning world champion) Sebastien Loeb.

So Citroën ended up with the top two drivers in the world, and Ford moved their number 2 driver Jari-Matti Latvala up to the number 1 spot, and brought in former world champion Petter Solberg as their new number 2. Ford tried to hire Ogier but couldn't come to terms with him, so he ended up moving over to Volkswagen, who are developing a WRC car for the 2013 season. That doesn't leave Ogier without anything to do this year though, since besides helping develop the new car, he'll be competing for Volkswagen in the SWRC series in a Skoda Fabia.

Mini, on the other hand, who had such a promising start in the WRC last year, missed the deadline for the 2012 season entirely, and only after an extension from the FIA (the governing body of the WRC and F-1, among others), committed to returning. But they haven't committed to all events, and are only going to have one full-time driver (Daniel Sordo), instead of two. If they do bring in a second driver at any rally, it will be local drivers who have to pay to drive the other car.

Meanwhile, the first rally of the season is happening this week in Monte-Carlo. But just over a week ago, the FIA severed ties with North One Sport entirely, since they'd been unable to commit to sponsoring and supporting the WRC (a supposed deal for a new buyer for North One Sport apparently fell through).

I wondered why their website hadn't been updated since December.

So that left the rally not only without sponsorship, web coverage and TV coverage, but without the necessary timing gear to hold the rally at all.

At the last minute, TV production company EuroSport took on broadcasting the Monte-Carlo rally, but there's no word on if that will extend to other rallies, or if any of it will ever be seen in the U.S. Presumably, Velocity's (formerly Discovery HD Theater's) deal was with North One Sport. Hopefully, something can be worked out. The FIA claims to be working on it. I still hope North One Sport can bounce back - I really liked their coverage, and what happened to them wasn't their fault. The timing issues were also worked out, with the rally organizers in Monte-Carlo providing their own timing equipment. But as for what might happen next month in Sweden... it's anyone's guess.

At any rate, while I usually don't like to check in on rally results until I can watch it unfold on TV, I may just have to settle for checking it out on the web, since the way things are looking, it may not show up on TV at all.

That aside... I'm still looking forward to seeing how the season unfolds. Assuming, that is, that they can find sponsorships to keep it going.

Citroën will be a force to contend with again, although I don't expect Mikko Hirvonen to do much other than support Sebastien Loeb. I don't think Hirvonen has the raw speed to compete, plus he's in an unfamiliar car. But it will be interesting to see what he can learn from Loeb.

Ford should be interesting to watch, with Jari-Matti Latvala being given the top spot (and rightly so). He's blisteringly fast, if he can continue tempering that speed with consistency, as he had done so well in the second half of last season. Also, with Petter Solberg as his team-mate, I think we'll finally get to see Petter return to some podiums this year, now that he no longer has the burden of running his own team. He can just drive, and bask in the full support of a factory team. He may take a little while to get used to the Ford, but I don't think it'll take him that long. I expect he'll consistently be in the top three with Loeb and Latvala.

I'm disappointed that Mini's only running one driver this year, but they picked the right one to keep - Daniel Sordo has a lot of as-yet untapped potential, and the Minis have been proven to have the necessary speed to be competitive.


Also this year, Subaru is participating in a support category called Rally Class, which will compete during six WRC events. The cost is a mere 260,000 Euros for a fully-prepped Subaru and entry into the events (time to start saving my pennies). The winner gets a fully-paid ride in the class the following year. The question though, is with North One Sport out of the picture, did Rally Class go with it?


Meanwhile, speaking of Subaru, while I was on vacation, I took an afternoon to check out the new 2012 Impreza. Sweet car. Even though it's "only" 148 HP, it feels faster than my Subaru, due to it's lighter weight and better transmission. I tested the CVT version, which I thought worked great (the paddle shifters were admittedly fun to play with, too). Even the fairly bare-bones one I test drove was nicely equipped. And while I'm in no hurry to replace my Impreza, it's nice to know that there's one out there that I'd be willing to buy again. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the WRX version later this year, too (I'm hoping for a six-speed automatic, like they're using in the BRZ).