WRC eyes future rounds in New Zealand, Croatia

The WRC hasn't been seen in New Zealand since 2012, but WRC Promoter's Oliver Ciesla has warmed to the idea of a return and the event would most likely slot into an open September slot next season.

Croatia is the only alternative for 2017's 14th round and a candidate rally will be run in September, shortly before the promoter reveals its calendar to WRC Commission for autumn ratification by the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

"I don't need to tell you about New Zealand," said Ciesla. "There is a big passion to go there with Hayden [Paddon] and even though we won't see the highest number of on-site spectators, we have these beautiful roads which we can use to make great television. I am very much in favour of this."

Croatia is the most recent candidate rally, and Ciesla admits such a move would fly in the face of its policy of not including any new European rounds.

"It's true that we are not seeking more European rallies," he said, "but Croatia ticks so many boxes from the infrastructure to these incredible roads which could make the cars dance.

"We could look at a mixed event with a day on gravel and two days on asphalt and we could even look at something new: some sort of a hillclimb event being included in the itinerary.

"On top of that, the event would be based in an area easily accessible to the teams and an area that has a real affinity for rally fans."

Surprisingly, China's chances of a WRC round have faded for the immediate future. Rally China was included on the calendar last year, but had to be scratched after storms hit the roads for the September event.

There remains speculation that the necessary funding was never in place for the Far Eastern event, but Ciesla denies the promoter was too quick to sign China up.

"When you have an opportunity like that open up, you have to react quickly," he said. "It was right strategically for us to go there and don't forget it was a message the manufacturers needed.

"The desire remains strong to go there, it has such a big car market. But, we would need government support at the highest possible level. Right now, there are other rallies around that require less effort and offer bigger wins."

Ciesla confirmed Turkey remained very much on the WRC radar, but not before 2019.

Talking about the expansion to 16 rallies, Ciesla admitted it remained vital for the benefit of such a move to outweigh the associated costs.

He continued: "The mathematics makes sense [to expand the calendar]: we have a global audience of 60 million for every round and I would rather have 16 times 60 million than 13 times 60 million.

"But we have to work with the other stakeholders as this will mean an increase in costs and we have to make sure it offers the additional benefit."