Shinsuke Umeda: “FIA ​​is using Dakar as bait to forcibly unify [rally raids], which is causing problems”

As its name suggests, the World Rally-Raid Championship is the premier cross-country rally series with stops across the globe from the Americas to the Middle East. As the W2RC nears the end of its third season, however, some feel they might have bitten off more than they could chew.

In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, Shinsuke Umeda opined bringing together major rally raids around the world under a single banner is stretching teams’ resources thin while poor marketing provides little incentive for them to race on a regular basis. Despite finishing runner-up in the 2023 SSV standings, he has only run the season-opening Dakar Rally so far in 2024 due to these factors.

“The rules and laws for rally raids vary significantly depending on the event, with each organiser running things as they see fit,” he wrote. “Now, the FIA is using Dakar as bait to forciby unify them, which is causing problems.”

The W2RC is headlined by the Dakar, which everyone moderately familiar with off-road racing certainly knows, in Saudi Arabia. The series then stays in the Middle East for the the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge before heading to Europe for the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid. A round trip across the Atlantic Ocean rounds out the season with the Desafío Ruta 40 in Argentina followed by the Rallye du Maroc in October. In total, the 2024 season visits six countries for five rounds.

A world championship obviously requires teams to travel a lot, but Umeda pointed out the logistics to get to a rally raid are not as straightforward as in pavement-based series. Rallies are typically further from population hubs and are headquartered at temporary bivouacs rather than permanent facilities, meaning hauling personnel and equipment is more expensive and perhaps confusing. The FIA does not help teams with transport save for bringing vehicles from the Dakar to Abu Dhabi, though Umeda added it is “cheaper to hire a local tow truck.” The Dakar’s overseer Amaury Sport Organisation also arranges for shipping vehicles from Spain to Saudi Arabia and back, though some teams still opt to go on their own if it is more affordable.

Umeda was able to run all five races in 2023 because his team Xtremeplus is used to transporting vehicles for other outfits such as Overdrive Racing in Europe and Africa. When going to the Americas for the DR 40 and Sonora Rally in Mexico, Polaris covered the costs due to his high position in the standings and use of an American-built Polaris RZR.

Besides expensive travel, Umeda added a lack of marketing for the non-Dakar races gives competitors less reason to make the trips, especially if they are out of contention for the title.

“It’s not that drivers and manufacturers don’t value the World Championship,” he continued, “but the costs of transporting cars all over the world by plane (without support from the FIA) are exorbitant and there is little marketing benefit for each event (e.g., American fans don’t know about Abu Dhabi and Saudi fans have no idea where Mexico is). Aside from the odd drivers like me and (Yazeed) Al-Rajhi, who race because we want to, most quit as soon as they no longer have a chance to win the title.

“W2RC races move from remote area to another worldwide, so the cost of airlifting machines and mechanics is huge with no support from the FIA. […] The moment professional teams have no chance of winning the World Championship, they give up participating. For example, if a Middle Eastern driver doesn’t win, it would just be a marketing loss if he runs a rally in South America.”

Although Umeda’s point concerns the FIA side, the bikes feature a noticeably smaller field for the same reason: after five marques duked it out in 2023, the 2024 FIM manufacturer’s championship only has Hero and Honda contending. GasGas, KTM, and Husqvarna, respectively the winners of the 2022 and 2023 Dakar Rallies and 2023 W2RC, opted against competing for the 2024 title because of a reshuffled budget by their parent company Pierer Mobility Group and the low return on investment brought on by the championship’s low marketing footprint.

“The championship itself works pretty well, you have to admit, but the main race is still the Dakar,” Andreas Hölzl, the manager for the three Pierer teams, explained in March. “It’s the most famous, interesting, and prestigious race, and that’s what we focus on. All of this cost a lot of money, and in times like these, it must be well invested. The financial aspect is one thing because you also have to pay a fee to the promoter, and media presence is also not as we would like it yet.”

In his only W2RC start of 2024 at the Dakar Rally, Umeda finished twentieth in SSV.