Kris Meeke: internet coverage should be WRC's focus not TV

Former WRC commercial chief David Richards recently proposed a potentially profitable way to develop the sport for live cyberspace coverage and Meeke has urged WRC Promoter to consider such a move.

"The media age we're living in has moved on," he said.

"I used to have to watch rallies on teletext, but we moved on and we've moved from television again.

"This is all about the internet; it should be about sitting at home and choosing whose onboard you want to watch live through any particular stage."

Meeke also agreed with Richards that successful media marketing of the sport would mean an end to talk of significant change to the final-day format of WRC rounds, amid new discussions over a last-stage shootout.

"For me that's a bit like putting a sticking plaster on a broken bone," Meeke added.

"Maybe we need some more points for the Powerstage or something like that, but personally, I don't think we should be looking at breaking up the sport in the format it's been running since the year dot.

"At a time when we're trying to attract a new internet audience to the sport, we could alienate them with even more confusing rules.

"As well as that, look at what happened in Argentina on the last WRC round; if these rules had been in place then that fantastic fight between Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala wouldn't have happened. They would have realised they were comfortable in first and second and just backed off."