The World Rally Championship could benefit from hosting exhibition-style events such as the Monza Rally Show, according to Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala.
All three WRC Rally1 teams attended a revived Monza Rally Show earlier this month, which acted as a celebration of the 2024 season, while also paying tribute to Pirelli’s four-year stint as the championship’s control tyre supplier.
The Monza Rally Show has built up a strong following since its debut in 1978, regularly attracting motorsport’s biggest names, with MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi a record seven-time event winner.
This year’s revamped event witnessed crowds flock to see the WRC’s elite go head to head on the Monza circuit’s famous stages, with Adrien Fourmaux taking the victory from new world champion Thierry Neuville in the Masters Show.
Latvala, who was among the WRC drivers competing, believes the concept was a success and feels an event of this nature could be a good fit into a future WRC calendar.
This year the WRC has dabbled with event format changes with the introduction of a more condensed 48-hour concept at Rally Sardinia.
“I have really enjoyed it, it has been nice to drive, and coming here to Italy where there is a lot of fans has actually been really cool,” said Latvala.
“I think we could have [something] in the championship, and for me all the events don’t need to be the same, so some of the events we could have a sprint-type event like this in Monza, more like a show.
“If we have 13 or 14 championship rallies we could have maybe two or three short events, two days and have a show, but still have some competition. I think it would be a nice thing for the championship.”
Hyundai’s Neuville is also a fan of the event but feels the championship should focus on improving other areas before switching its attention to adding an exhibition-style round to its schedule.
“It is fun, I have been to Monza many times, it is good,” Neuville told Autosport.
“I don’t know [if the WRC should do more of these events]. It is nice to have something at the end of the season and maybe at the start of the year to launch the season, but overall I would say we have other problems that we need to sort first and we need to focus on.”
