Mosley: WRC can match Formula 1

Mosley's comments come on the eve of the Monte Carlo Rally, which kicks off the 2002 season in France tomorrow (Friday), and provides a real boost to the series as it enters the year with its first ever terrestrial television deal.

"At the moment WRC is not as good as F1," said Mosley at the launch of the championship on Wednesday night. "The reason is for the past 30 years F1 has been properly managed. The series of events in rally have not been tied together as well as F1. In the next five to 10 years, World Rally will be as popular as F1."

Despite his recent move as team boss of the British American Racing Formula 1 team, Rally supremo David Richards is to remain in charge of the championship.

Richards' company International Sportsworld Communicators owns the broadcasting and marketing rights to the championship and Mosley has absolute faith that he is the man to take the series forward.

"DR is going to be the person to do it," added Mosley. "The potential is almost unlimited. Rallying is the easiest [sport] to sell to the world. There are cars with two people in them and it appears to be closer to ordinary motorsport. The difficult thing in the past was that TV was limited. You want to show it live, but how can you show it live all day?

Channel 4 is broadcasting all WRC rounds in the United Kingdom with daily half hour shows. The first stage in Monte Carlo starts on Friday morning at 0848 (BST).