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Rally GB could test radical World Rally Championship shootout idea

The 2014 World Rally Championship-concluding Rally GB next month could be used as a test event for WRC Promoter to demonstrate its radical new Powerstage plan

The proposal was unanimously rejected at last month's World Motor Sport Council despite receiving unanimous backing from the WRC Commission.

FIA president Jean Todt will meet with the WRC Commission to review the proposal, which focuses on closing up the competition by making a single second worth only a tenth of a second in gaps reset for the last stage, in Geneva on Thursday.

Feelings will be running high in the meeting, with WRC Promoter and the manufacturers passionately in favour of a move that Todt is believed to be entirely unconvinced about.

WRC Promoter chief Oliver Ciesla hopes Britain's round of the WRC will offer the perfect test to bring people around to its way of thinking.

"I would be very interested in the opportunity to test [the format]. It would be fantastic," he said.

"For a comparison, we could run a parallel set of results - that's most likely the way we would do it. This would not cause the event itself any extra work."

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Hyundai team principal Michel Nandan echoed those thoughts, adding: "All of the manufacturers agreed with this change to the format for next season, so of course we would like the opportunity to test it and to see and show how it is working."

Rally GB managing director Ben Taylor said he was willing to listen to needs of WRC Promoter.

"The sport needs to resolve the ongoing discussions about the future format of the WRC," said Taylor, "so if we were able to play our part by trialling something in November we would be happy to look at the possibilities."

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