2006 World Rally Championship

Posted: March 10, 2006 11:09 PM

---

10/03/06
Gareth MacHale to contest full 2007 Season
Gareth MacHale, has signed an agreement with with M-Sport to contest the entire 2007 FIA World Rally Championship.

Full Details:

www.wrc.com - World Rally Championship Offical Site

---

27/02/06
Lapworth replaced at Subaru
The Subaru World Rally Team has announced a shift in its management structure.
David Lapworth is stepping down and will be replaced by Paul Howarth, who is now responsible for the operation and tehcnical aspect of the team.

Lapworth will now take over a new position within Prodrive, working on a new project.

More details from:

www.wrc.com - World Rally Championship Offical Site

---

20/02/06
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP GLOBAL TV AUDIENCE UP 44%
International Sportsworld Communicators Ltd. (ISC), the global media and commercial rights holder for the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), today announced the latest TV audience statistics and data*, illustrating that the worldwide television audience of the WRC has increased 44% in three years.

The global TV marketplace continues to be fiercely competitive. The continuing development of multi-channel television, new media and new programme formats is substantially fragmenting audiences and the battle for sports audience share and airtime is particularly strong. However, WRC viewing figures have been on the rise in recent years and new data illustrates that this trend continues to strengthen.

WRC worldwide audience figures have grown by 44% from 2002 to 2005. In the same time frame, the reach of WRC has also developed significantly with new broadcasters tapping into previously untouched territories and new programming, resulting in a 158% increase in the total number of hours of coverage from 1,780 in 2002 to 4,610 in 2005.

Year on year, WRC has seen a 3.7% increase in its worldwide audience to 802 million during 2005.

The total number of dedicated WRC broadcasts has increased by almost 27% during the last year, with 6,696 dedicated WRC broadcasts in 2005 in comparison to 5,281 the year before.

The introduction of Rally World in 2005, a new rally magazine programme, contributed to a 31% increase in the average number of broadcasts per rally since April 2005.

Coverage in Japan saw a 36.4% increase from 17.1 million viewers in 2004 to 23.3 million by the end of 2005 as TV coverage increased on existing networks.

Other key TV markets also saw a rise in audience viewing figures since 2004 with Spain boasting a 34.8% increase as a result of new programming on existing networks and France improving by 18.5% as a result of increased programming on France 2 and M6.

Figures in Scandinavian TV markets showed similar increases during 2005, as a result of additional programming and consistent broadcast schedules. Norway’s audience figures increased by over 50%, Sweden’s by 10%, Finland’s by 1.5% and Denmark’s increased by over 100%.

WRC’s official website www.wrc.com has seen a 25% increase in average monthly visitors from 323,728 in 2004 to 403,027 in 2005, peaking at 590,000 during Wales Rally GB.

www.wrc.com - World Rally Championship Offical Site

---

12/09/05

• Ford signs Marcus Grönholm to drive new Focus RS WRC

---

1. Monte Carlo [P] - 20-22 Jan 06
2. Sweden [J] - 3-5 Feb 06
3. Mexico [P] - 3-5 Mar 06
4. Spain (Catalunya) [J] - 24-26 Mar 06
5. France (Corsica) [J] - 7-9 Apr 06
6. Argentina [P] - 28-30 Apr 06
7. Italy [J] - 18-21 May 06
8. Greece [P] - 2-4 Jun 06
9. Germany [J] - 11-13 Aug 06
10. Finland [J] - 18-20 Aug 06
11. Japan [P] - 1-3 Sep 06
12. Cyprus [P] - 22-24 Sep 06
13. Turkey [J] - 13-15 Oct 06
14. Australia [P] - 27-29 Oct 06
15. New-Zealand [P] - 17-19 Nov 06
16. Great-Britain [J] - 1-3 Dec 06

[P] = Also a counting round of the Production World Rally Championship
[J] = Also a counting round of the Junior World Rally Championship

www.wrc.com - World Rally Championship Offical Site