FIA form Rally Working Group to address WRC issues

With many aspects of the World Rally Championship’s current and future standing on the global stage of some concern, the FIA has devised a Rally Working Group to address its direction.

The group, led by FIA Deputy President for Sport Robert Reid and World Motor Sport Council member David Richards, will address areas of concern surrounding technical, sporting and promotional aspects of the WRC, as well as its grassroots system.

Amongst some of the big WRC issues is the decline of manufacturer involvement, which has been a dwindling aspect to the WRC for a number of years, and also the future of the Rally1 hybrid unit.

As it stands there are only two fully committed manufacturers in Toyota and Hyundai at the top level, with Ford being a half-in half-out companion to M-Sport.

The FIA’s new Rally Working Group will address many of the concerns that leave the future of the WRC up in the air

The new Rally1 hybrid machines introduced in 2022 were meant to cut costs and attract more manufacturers down the track, but even the future of the hybrid system can’t yet be resolved with the WRC struggling to make an extended deal with Compact Dynamics who make the units.

That deal ends in 2024, and if a new one can’t be struck – with the WRC keen to have Compact Dynamics improve on the current unit – then there is the outside possibility it would be ditched all together for 2025 – which would be somewhat of a disaster for long-term planning and to its initial goals.

Today the FIA also announced that teams will only have access to three hybrid units per-car for the 2024 season, cut down from nine in 2023.

A statement from the FIA read:

“At the World Motor Sport Council Strategy session at the Annual General Assemblies Week in Baku today, it was agreed to form a Working Group to evaluate and recommend the future direction of rallying.

“…Under consideration will be the technical, sporting and promotional aspects of the FIA World Rally Championship. The group will also address the pathway for grassroots development of rallying.

“An initial working paper will be presented for consideration by the WMSC and WRC Commission within two weeks.”

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans joined the WRC Commission to give the driver a voice on the future of the WRC

Whilst the Rally1 class is thin on the ground with numbers, with the general entry field averaging between nine to ten cars per round, the second tier WRC2 Rally2 field has also seen dwindling numbers and manufacturers.

The need for change has led drivers like 2023 vice-champion Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin to join the WRC Commission to give the competitors a consistent voice, whilst a mid-season meeting between the commission and the drivers was facilitated by WRC promoter GmbH to allow the competitors to address their concerns.

Even at the start of this season members of the WRC were outspoken in their confidence that Rally1 would bring new manufacturers to the party, but unless the future direction of the sport is clear, it’s unlikely to have that effect.

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