Former champion slams WRC state

"They must call rallies something else, because it's not right to compare them with what they once used to be," Munari told Autosprint magazine.

"Nowadays all the special stages in the 16 rallies of the championship sum up to about 5,700 kilometres. The Safari Rally, which crossed three countries - Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya - was 6,500 kilometres long!

"The last Monte Carlo I did, in 1978, was 4,380 kilometres. What else can you say?"

Munari, the 1977 champion with a Lancia Stratos, was also critical of Superrally rules, which allows a driver to rejoin the rally on the next day after having retired. The driver gets a five-minute penalty.

Munari said the system was unfair.

"The Superrally formula is unfair, even offensive," he said. "If one retires, he's retired. What can we do? Shall we start discussing all the record books of the past, to see what could have changed if somebody was allowed back in the rally after retiring?

"A five-minute penalty per stage is a ridiculous punishment compared to the fact you had to stop. It seems to me like a very unjust formula for who, on the other hand, managed to reach the finish by himself.

"The sad thing is that, in my opinion, they did it to hide the poorness of current rallies and of the current line up of drivers and cars," Munari said. "There are only three at the start: if two retire what's left?

"Superrally is an admission of the fact that today's rallies are in free fall. If there are few entries it means that something must be reviewed, instead of re-admitting whoever has retired.

"The idea of bringing rallies to the people, to the media, hasn't worked: there are no rallies on TV and forget about the papers."