It’s been reported that the new tire supplier for the 2025 World Rally Championship season and beyond will be decided later this week.
When Will It Be Decided?
The decision on what tire supplier the World Rally Championship will use for the 2025 season and beyond will be decided during the FIA Motor Sport Council on October 19th. It’s unknown if the new tire supplier will be announced at the same time. Although it likely will be, the WRC promoter may choose to keep it secret for the time being, however. As the 2024 World Rally Championship calendar is also rumoured to be coming out around that time.
Who Are The Candidates?
The full list of candidates for the new WRC tire supplier is unknown. However, we do know of three at this point in time. Those being MRF Tires, Hankook and Michelin. Michelin was the tire supplier for the WRC up until 2020. It was favoured by many of the drivers including Sebastien Ogier who isn’t a fan of the Pirelli’s that are used now. MRF Tyre has been successful in the European Rally Championship. Winning the team’s championship the last two seasons. Hankook hasn’t found much success in any FIA Rally Championship to this point.
Why Only One Tire Supplier
The main reason the World Rally Championship uses one tire supplier is to create fairness between all teams. It wouldn’t be fair for a team with more budget like Toyota to use a higher quality tire than a team with less money like M-Sport. This way it ensures every team will have the same choice of tires at any given event. It’s also easier for the WRC promoter to work with one tire supplier to build the best possible tire for the championship. Sure you could make the case that more suppliers would be better for the WRC in some ways. But that would be another way for teams to get a leg up on one another.