Araujo and Arai to star in the 2010 P-WRC

Reigning FIA Production Car World Rally Champion Armindo Araujo will return to defend his title this year, taking on two-time winner Toshihiro Arai and, according to series organisers, at least 18 other entries.

The FIA has already confirmed 11 entries for this year's P-WRC, after the first entry deadline passed last week. But Marc de Jong, the man responsible for the commercial development of WRC support championships, felt revised technical criteria for this year's series could lead to at least 20 by the final registration date in March.

The technical changes concern the vehicles eligible to contest the series. The 2009 P-WRC was open to both Super 2000 and Group N4 cars. But in December, in response to competitors' concerns that the performance gap between the two classes had grown too large for them to compete together, the FIA effectively split the competition.

This year the two classes get their own FIA titles. The P-WRC reverts to its previous brief as a championship for 'traditional' Group N4 cars, while the new S-WRC caters for Super 2000 cars.

De Jong spoke to wrc.com about the 2010 P-WRC, and why the FIA's decision had caused a surge of interest in the series.

What is the appeal of the P-WRC?
"It was first run in 1987, which makes it the oldest and most established of the WRC support championships. It's also the only major championship in the world that's exclusively for traditional Group N cars - in other words four-wheel drive turbocharged Mitsubishis and Subarus. This year, the FIA has split Super 2000 cars away from these cars. So if you’re driving a 'traditional' Group N car this is the best championship in the world - no question about it."

In terms of season costs for a competitor, how does the P-WRC compare with the other FIA WRC support series?
"It's going to be somewhere between the S-WRC and the J-WRC. The S-WRC features seven events with the best and the most expensive cars, relatively speaking. With six events, I would say the P-WRC is about 30 percent cheaper to tackle than the S-WRC, while with only five rounds the J-WRC is about 60 per cent cheaper than the S-WRC."

So far the FIA has announced eleven entries for this year's P-WRC. When is the final entry deadline?
"In common with the J-WRC and S-WRC, the FIA entry deadline was 4 January but the absolute cut-off is later in the year. P-WRC competitors have to tackle six of nine rounds in 2010, and with the opening three rallies of the WRC counting in those nine, the latest cut-off is mid March, when entries close for the third event - Rally Jordan."

What do you think about this year's entry list?
"After the late decision to split the P-WRC and S-WRC we've seen an enormous upsurge in entries, because people are recognising here's a World Title to be had with cars that are reliable and readily available. This has attracted a really wide variety of drivers. Armindo Araujo is back to defend his title in a Mitsubishi, while Toshi Arai is probably the leading Subaru entry and the only driver to have won two titles in recent years. There are also a number of younger challengers including the five Pirelli Star Drivers and Martin Semerad - a Pirelli Star Driver from 2009 who is back this year with the Czech National Team."

How many P-WRC entries are you expecting in 2010 and how does this compare with previous seasons?
"We know there are at least nine other teams still trying to field entries and I would expect this number to grow. In recent years the P-WRC has had about 20 entries, and if we add the P-WRC and Super 2000 entries together we'll exceed that number quite easily. Of course splitting out S-WRC entries this year means it's awkward to make year-on-year comparison but I'd say the number of Production entries alone is looking encouraging."