WRC: Series promoter "playing around," Richards says

Former World Rally Championship commercial chief David Richards says he has significant concerns over the current series promoter's approach.

Richards met with WRC Promoter's Oliver Ciesla in London last month but admits he was left uninspired by plans for the future.

"I came away from my meeting totally unconvinced that the current promoter has the right solutions for the championship or indeed a clear vision of what's required," Richards said. "I have real concerns for the future.

"There appears to be a lot of playing around with the peripheral issues, but not much focus on those which sit at the core of the WRC's problem of a lack of visibility."

WRC Promoter is now in year two of its decade-long global promotion agreement with the FIA. The German company has endured a stormy start to its tenure, as a bitter dispute with the teams led to unprecedented scenes in Portugal when the drivers were instructed to refuse interviews with the official WRC television crews.

Relations between WRC Promoter and the other world championship stakeholders have improved recently, but there remains a desire to see more progress and investment from the Munich-based promotional company.