Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford have written to the FIA requesting current Rally1 regulations remain in place until the end of the 2026 World Rally Championship season. The move comes after the WRC recommended significant regulatory change for next season. Some of the changes include Rally1 cars running without hybrid, less aero and less power while Rally2 cars get more power and more aero. There are mixed feelings on the urgency to push the changes. Many manufacturers have agreements in place through 2026 with hybrid and power unit suppliers so a change to the technical regulations will increase tense and squeeze budgets as teams attempt to homologate.
The WRC Technical Rules to be Finalized in June
This coming Tuesday marks the next opportunity for the teams to discuss potential changes to the 2025 rules. The rules will be finalized later this year in June. Cyril Abiteboul, Team principal for Hyundai WRT stated in an interview with Autosport.com, “One of the things we are trying to do is to build a plan in advance, which Hyundai was not very good at in the past, so for once we have a new team and technical leadership and was pushing hard to have a very well-structured technical project, and that has been brought down by a regulator’s decision. It is vital that we have very quick rules ratified by the World Motor Sport Council so that we can simply work towards these regulations. For me, the timing of June is simply not possible for us to be able to do a good job for next year.
I’m sure, if the FIA needs a quicker decision, I’m very confident they can find ways. They must appreciate that a ratification of rules in June for a car that needs to be designed, tested and validated for January, it is not a lot of time to design, build, test and validate.”
The concerns seems to be time. With every change in motorsport regulation comes cost and decision making time for the teams. The teams will have to choose which areas to focus research and development on while also leaving enough budget to maintain the cars performance. With the next WRC council meeting scheduled for next week. More information may be available to the teams as we approach the final decision on rule changes.