World Rally Championship team principals Olivier Quesnel and Malcolm Wilson both gave their backing to the decision to move the Rallye de France from its traditional base on Corsica to Alsace in the wake of last week’s first ever mainland French WRC round.
The event ran with unprecedented spectator numbers for a French round of the series and it’s that popularity which confirmed the move from Ajaccio to Strasbourg was the right one.
Citroen Total World Rally Team principal Quesnel said: “Honestly, I like to be in Corsica, the weather is nice and the people are nice too, but if we race like we did [in Corsica] for the brand of Ciotroen, we need more spectators. The rally that happen here in Strasbourg is very good, especially because in France the people are not supposed to like the rally, but take a look around you - you can see what happened. I think this rally is an example of what can happen when we get the good calendar. There were some problems on this rally, but I prefer to have plenty of people and some problems than to have no people and a rally with no problem.” Quesnel said the huge numbers of fans turning out to watch his driver Sebastien Loeb collecting a seventh world title did not surprise him at all.
“Before we came to this event,” continued the Frenchman, “I said to everybody: “Take care, there will be plenty, plenty if people.” And this is how it is. Sebastien Loeb is more than just a star and this is why the people have come from France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, from everywhere to see him.”
Ford’s team principal Malcolm Wilson added: “There’s no question that the Tour de Corse is a drivers’ rally and the drivers prefer those roads, but from our point of view this rally in Alsace has got so much potential. Yes, there are a lot of things to be sorted out, but there are a lot more positives than there are negatives. We’ve never seen anything like the spectator numbers, this was definitely the right thing to do.”