Cobra11 games have been sold in North America, but I don't know about WR2 though. So, as you said, that probably have made things harder since the game might not have been sold everywhere.
Regarding the community, both games had (and still have) the main part of it on german places, which is not helpful aswell. Even if you can actually speak english in those places since the admins know english very well, the fact these places are german might tend to keep away people from other countries.
About the WR2 modding community, we are actually stronger than before, which IMHO is the best thing which could ever happen for the game :p
You can check a dear friend's facebook page, he works on both addon cars and tracks, everything which is related to the closed circuit racing "ambient":
https://www.facebook.com/WR2-Modding-Progress-1533017150260959
While, there's my FB page too in my signature. :p