The rally choirs in the WRC have been muzzled. At least they are no longer allowed to swear over the radio. This now makes them completely silent in protest.
– Fuck fuckity fuck, fuck !
The rally drivers in the WRC can forget about swearing over the public team radio. And if they do, they will face hefty fines.
But now, a silent protest has literally risen over the ban on swearing that FIA President Mohammed Ahmad Sultan Ben Sulayem introduced before the start of the season.
This is what Autosport writes.
The ban applies to all motorsport. In Formula 1, for example, the penalty is a fine of up to one million kroner. Read more about it here .
It can cost 1 million kroner to fire off swear words
But in WRC, the choirs are now actually responding again to the ban, which specifically limits their freedom of expression.
Specifically, the choirs have chosen not to give interviews to the press at all. And if they do, several of the choirs will only answer questions in their native language.
Both Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux and Toyota's Takamoto Katsuta have refused to answer press questions after the rally tests.
The protest comes after Adrien Fourmaux was fined for swearing. Or as it is called in FIA terms, "using inappropriate language".
Fourmaux was fined a whopping 74,000 kroner for saying "fuck". And if he does it again, he will have to pay a whopping 148,000 kroner. That's double.
The extremely high fine promptly prompted the other rally drivers to form the World Rally Drivers Alliance (WoRDA), an organization similar to the Formula 1 drivers' Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA).
And this is – in WoRDA – that they have agreed not to say so much as a word to the press. Other than in the choirs' own native languages.
– We agree to keep the language as polite as possible at the microphone. At the same time, we must be allowed to maintain a certain freedom of expression and show our feelings without fear of punishment.
– For this reason, it is impossible for us to guarantee that we will always follow the new rules to the letter.
– Therefore, as members of WoRDA, we have made the responsible decision to remain silent in interviews or answer in our native language. We apologize to our fans, but we know that they understand and support us, the choirs say.
