WTCC chief's verdict on the new era

Motorsport is one of the pillars of Eurosport's programming. For the Easter weekend we put on air the World Touring Car Championship, the Circuit of Ireland round of the European Rally Championship, and the World Endurance Championship from Silverstone.

After the second round of the WTCC at Paul Ricard, we have a better view of the TC1 regulations that were introduced this year. I was convinced that the opening Marrakech round did not reflect reality, and the layout of that circuit accentuated the differences between cars with a strong engine and those with a slight deficiency in power.

On a proper circuit, like Paul Ricard, the gap we saw between Citroen and the opposition was a bit lower than in Marrakech, and I think it should reduce over the next events.

As a championship promoter, I think we learned three lessons. The first was that it was a good thing to have changed the technical regulations.

When I watched TC1 cars passing by, and then TC2 cars, I asked myself why we didn't change the regulations earlier. These cars really look like proper racing cars now; they're very aggressive, and that's right. It's a much better show, for viewers on TV and for spectators at the track.

The second lesson: I think there were a lot of question marks concerning the impact on overtaking, because there's much more downforce on the TC1 cars.

There has been close racing throughout the field so far © XPB

I was very much reassured with what I saw at Le Castellet on Sunday. I didn't count the number of moves, but there was a lot of overtaking, and not just because there were Citroens starting at the back.

I saw a lot of overtaking between Hondas and Chevrolets, Chevrolets and Ladas etc. So from this perspective we didn't lose our DNA, and that was my biggest concern.

The third lesson is, if you change the technical regulations, and if one manufacturer invests more by starting testing and development six months ahead of all the others, it makes a huge difference.

I really don't believe the gap that Citroen currently has over Honda, Lada and Chevrolet is about money. I think it's really about time.

It started testing the C-Elysee in July 2013, while Honda started in January [2014] and RML and Lada in March. I'm sure if you were to give Honda the option, 'Which would you prefer, more money or more time?' today it would probably tell you more time.

For instance, to prepare for the very particular kerbs they would face in Marrakech, Citroen went to test on very particular circuits to find similar kerbs. Today, it is true that the WTCC has a situation a bit like Formula 1 with Mercedes or Volkswagen in rallying. We have a dominant manufacturer - that's obvious.

How will things develop? It's not entirely in our control. Citroen will get the success ballast from Hungary onwards. If it takes 60kg, it will lose around 0.6s per lap. But beyond this, the WTCC is not a championship that subscribes to the concept of a balance of performance, for example like the WEC is doing.

In the end, if Citroen works better, completes more testing and has the best drivers, because of the way the championship is structured, it will dominate qualifying and race one, and in race two it will have to start in the middle of the pack.

I expect Honda, Lada and Chevrolet to keep working on their cars and reduce the gap they have with Citroen. I don't see Honda not reacting to this. I think Honda has done a lot between Marrakech and Paul Ricard.

I don't know what it was it found, whether it was more revs or more torque or more power, but Honda could defend much better on the straights than in Marrakech.

Ribeiro with Jean Todt and Michelle Yeoh in Marrakech © XPB

Talking to them, I saw the amount of effort they're putting into this and I think they understood the message very clearly - they are eager to reduce the gap to Citroen and fight for podiums.

Eurosport Events as a promoter is also supporting the three teams who bought two RML Chevrolet Cruze cars each. We supported them a lot this year - because the gap to purchase these new TC1 cars was very high compared to the TC2 cars - in return for a three-year presence on the WTCC grid.

We are keen to see new TC2 rules, the sooner the better, and this is an ongoing process with the FIA and the manufacturers. If the FIA produces a good new set of TC2 rules, we would be first to take these regulations on board and build up our own championship.

If you see the European Touring Car Championship today, it is a success with 30 cars. However, these cars will be obsolete very soon. If BMW Motorsport does not produce spare parts any more for TC2 and SEAT Sport does not produce spare parts any more, it won't be possible to have 30 cars next year.

There is a need, and we would be the first one to have a separate grid. Whatever we call it - the FIA TC2 championship or something like this - we would have some events in Europe and some in Asia to make a proper feeder series for TC1.

For me, the best benchmark in motorsport as a feeder system is between Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP. I would love to think we could replicate this for WTCC, and I would love to think that if the next TC2 regulation is good, then some national bodies or ASNs would start to use it for creating national touring car championships.

For France, why not? I think Germany is also expecting something. I spoke to the presidents of [German motorsport bodies] the ADAC and DMSB in Marrakech, and both told me if the FIA does something they would immediately jump on board.

As championship promoter, the feedback we get from the market is that there are many drivers saying they want to do an international touring car championship, one which has nice events and nice promotion, that costs a maximum of €300,000 per season. We believe the demand is there.

Local hero Breen's bid for Circuit of Ireland victory ended early

Regarding the Circuit of Ireland, I was regularly on the phone to people there during the event, and I spoke to Bobby Willis, the event promoter, on Monday morning.

I think everyone was fairly happy. It was a bit sad that the fight between Craig Breen and Esapekka Lappi, that was really tight, ended when the Peugeot had a mechanical failure. I would have loved to have seen them fighting to the last stage, but I think the event was quite popular.

I was happy to see that the Skoda S2000 was able to fight with the new R5 cars.

I would love to have bigger entries for the ERC rounds this year, but we have to accept there's not much money across all motorsport categories in Europe for teams and drivers to compete.

I am convinced the right number of ERC rounds is 10 - no more. With only 10 events, the championship would be stronger, as we know there are many teams or drivers that have the money to compete for eight events.

Generally speaking, we cannot say that the motorsport audience is growing in Europe. Realistically, it's decreasing slightly in Europe but growing in Asia. The challenge is to find a racing format that appeals to a younger audience.

I don't know how much the younger generation understand about Formula 1's new regulations or the new WEC regulations. The concept of energy efficiency is extremely good for manufacturers and engineers. How much the new generation buy into this, I don't know.

As far as we're concerned, we intend to keep the WTCC's sprint races as it fits well for live TV - you don't have time to get bored, or go to sleep, you just need to maintain your attention for 20 minutes. It's what makes the WTCC a success.

On Eurosport only, the WTCC audience for Marrakech from 2013 to 2014 was up 30 per cent. That means something's going on. But I don't think we'll continue to be up 30 per cent until the end of the season. We have a key asset and that is our racing format fits very well for live broadcasts.