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Mosley hints at Ford WRC withdrawal

FIA president Max Mosley has hinted that Ford may not be represented in the 2004 World Rally Championship. Defending the sweeping rule changes ratified this week by the World Motor Sport Council [Oct 16], he said: "Probably next year we'll only have four manufacturers, whereas we've had six this year. It's quite clear that, unless we do something to eliminate a lot of the costs, we'll lose even more." Hyundai has already withdrawn from the 2004 WRC, and Ford's position is unclear

The decision to add two long-haul rallies to the schedule has not been welcomed by the manufacturers, but Mosley says the move was properly thought through: "It was certainly necessary to bring in Mexico and Japan.

"The actual increase in costs from going from 14 to 16 rounds is far smaller than the reduction in costs that comes from the elimination of gravel cars, the reduction in the length of each event, the elimination of the necessity of a serious manufacturer to run three cars, and so on.

"What we must do is to try to keep things sensible and stable, and not change things unnecessarily. It's one of the problems in complex sports like motorsport. There's this tendency to change constantly. One mustn't do that because it destabilises, it costs money.

"Our ambition is to get up to be as big and as important as F1. The World Rally Championship could be the equivalent to the F1 World Championship."

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