The row that spotlights WRC's identity crisis

The French have done it again. Where there is brilliance, some see only setbacks, snags and hinderance. Simultaneously straightforward, simple, stupid and silly. One man's viande is another man's poison. Corsica has provided plenty of both with its first World Rally Championship itinerary since 2008.

I'll admit it, when I heard about a 35-miler running through Friday evening as a 'welcome home' to the WRC, I was delighted at the prospect of returning to Porto-Vecchio.

Be it memories of waiting at a petrol halt in St Clears on a frosty December night, mid-way through a classic Cilwendeg too many years ago, or the prospect of seeing Sebastien Ogier light up the Corsican lanes in October, I'm all for a race through the night.

And the thought of five or six super-long stages to decide a round of the WRC ticks my box as well.

Latvala has practical concerns about Corsica's itinerary suggestion © McKlein

Sensing that not everybody was on the same page when it came to the route for Rally of France's Alsace replacement, I sought refuge with somebody else who's been known to dally in days-gone-by.

Jari-Matti Latvala is a rally man's rally man. His choice of cars since landing the big-time salaries reflects that: not for him the finery of a Ferrari 458 or latest Aston incarnation. He's gone Group 4 for both a BDA-engined MkII and an original Quattro.

I was confident my Finnish friend and I would sing from the same history-laden hymn sheet when it came to the subject of the return of the Tour de Corse.

"What about the tyres though?"

Eh?

"Tyres. Will they last 80 kilometres? Maybe we need to talk to the tyre manufacturer and see what they think..."

Hmm. Not exactly the fever-filled, rose-tinted response I'd prepared myself for.

OK. Luis Moya. There's a man still gainfully employed in the modern-day World Rally Championship who knows a thing or two about how good it was before.

"But dark stages were never part of Corsica," says the Spaniard.

Moya won Corsica alongside Carlos Sainz in 1991 © LAT

This is not going well.

Then I found my man.

"I think it'll be brilliant," he says, without hesitation, before checking himself and adding: "Obviously, that's my personal opinion..."

Even Kris Meeke, a man never normally short of an engaging opinion, appears to have read the tone of voice on this one. Read it. But not necessarily remembered it...

"That there," he says with a smile, "that's a proper tour of Corsica."

And what of the FIA? Given that the president himself regularly extols the virtues of endurance while berating office-hours rallying, Corsica's overtime offering would surely please Jean Todt. It clearly tickled the fancy of WRC Commission president Jarmo Mahonen.

Unwilling to go into too much detail on his thoughts regarding Corsica's new adventure, Mahonen did go as far as saying he was pleased to see organisers doing something different.

Thank you Jarmo, that's good enough for me.

Meeke likes the look of the Corsica plan © McKlein

I'm all for organisers doing something different. It's one of the reasons I love the Monte Carlo rally so much - second-guessing the Automobile Club de Monaco is impossible, and long may it remain so.

But what's being planned on the roads between Porto-Vecchio, Ajaccio, Bastia and Corte is unprecedented in modern times. This one takes the cloverleaf format and shoves it where the sun is unlikely to be seen.

And it's here that one has to feel a degree of sympathy for WRC Promoter. A couple of years ago, a prescription was issued for events to follow. There appeared very little room for manoeuvre (unless you were an organisation rooted on boulevard Albert 1er).

Last year, the whole thing became much less uptight: ceremonial start on Thursday night and lunchtime Sunday powerstage - between those two markers, events could pretty much do what they wanted. The simple stipulation being that there be enough action to fill a 26-minute daily highlights show. There always was and always would be.

So, what does the promoter put in his 26-minute Friday-night show from Corsica? Hmm, that's a tricky one. Not least because somebody should be pushing the button on the satellite uplink to send the day-one programme live probably around the time the first stage is about to start.

WRC Promoter is frankly freaking out about this.

Understandably given that it has just agreed to supply CCTV5 with meaningful content - that's China's state broadcaster, which means potentially a billion-plus disappointed viewers. That's on top of the 600 or so other million watchers around the world who will be waiting to see what happens from a Friday in France.

France's WRC round has had to move from Alsace this year © McKlein

This bitter pill is all the harder to swallow given the sweetness of Strasbourg in recent seasons. Until recently, just about everything was working so well with Alsace. The Rally of France ticked boxes across the board in terms of content and timing. And now this...

So, my opinion shifted. Corsica is a step too far. Too mad. Too much.

Really?

Actually no. Let's not forget, Everest was once too far, too high, too mad, too much. There are those who will bang the relevance drum and point out that six or so 35-mile stages in three days has no place in the modern-day WRC (the endurance argument doesn't really hold: 6x35 still only equals 210 miles, which is hardly an epic...).

They will rightly talk about spectator control and the difficulties such a move presents, the potential for the narrow Corsican stages being blocked and great swathes of mileage being lost. And then we'll get to the night-time question. And they'll shake their heads and move on. I am, I'm afraid, a bit of a lost cause.

Yes, I know it'll be a nightmare to run an event like this. Yes, I know it'll be tough - potentially to the point of impossible to provide content from the current opening day.

But how about coming at it from a different direction? How about trying something completely new? Instead of sitting down and preparing a bunch of boxes for the programme to tick, why not turn it upside down and give it a shake?

Corsica has been part of the European Rally Championship in recent seasons

Again, I'd be pointed firmly in the direction of a gazillion or so satisfied customers who are regularly coming back and buying the same telly week in, week out. Obviously, I'm not in a position to argue with statistics...

What this Corsican debate has done is crystalise an argument that has been bubbling under around the service park for some time. This quarrel has cut to the core of WRC Promoter's apparent lack of understanding of our heritage.

So keen is it to please the stakeholders that it can miss what's genuinely great about rallying. The stuff that gets people out of their beds in the middle of the night to trudge for mile after mile to watch the night sky light up is too often sacrificed at the great altar of television.

I'm only too aware of how important it is to satisfy the neat and tidy broadcast agreements, but instead of a blanket refusal, how about giving it a go? How about trying to capture some of the drama of the dark?

Let's think outside of the box and tell a story that will really captivate some consumers. Instead of worrying about what we've got to lose, let's challenge ourselves to tell one of the season's taller tales and try to win an even bigger audience.

I know, I know, I'm always the one with a foot in the past. But this time I have an eye to the future.

And as for a challenge, there are a good few ready to point the promoter in the direction of 10,000 target-timed corners on a rally where one's crash helmet remained in place for 24 hours. We can't and won't go back to that historic version of the Tour of Corsica. But the chance to capture the essence is surely too good to miss.

Let's face it, when it comes to motorsport events pushing on from dusk to darkness and through until dawn, the French have a pretty good history.