The international motor sports association FIA announced on Wednesday several reforms concerning the World Rally Championship.
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Some of the changes concern the upcoming season, but some look further ahead. From the 2027 season onwards, the World Series will switch to cars with a cost ceiling of 400,000 euros. These cars can be driven already in the 2026 season.
The reforms also mention a clause according to which the teams must commit to selling the cars immediately after the race.
Toyota team manager Jari-Matti Latvala doesn’t understand at all what the change is trying to achieve. According to Latvala, this has not yet been properly opened for the current stables.
– It’s a bit of a special solution. Selling cars after the competition would definitely not be used. The value of a rally car can vary a lot depending on how much it has been worn, depending on the competition. More information needs to be obtained about the whole, Latvala emphasizes to Urheilu.
Costs will be reduced from 2027 onwards so that future cars will have a single safety frame around which car manufacturers can build their own car. Possible car models are being expanded, so in the future, cars belonging to the SUV segment can be seen on the rally tracks.
It is hoped that this will increase the interest of more manufacturers in the rally.
– The change can be functional because, for example, SUVs don’t really compete elsewhere. “Toyota certainly wants the safety frame not to be built by an outside operator, but to be done by itself within the framework of the rules,” says Latvala.
Latvala hopes for details on next season’s reforms
The Rally1 cars will change drastically already for next season. The hybrid units will be removed, which is a good thing, according to Latvala.
– For example, hybrid units have had to be flown to long-distance races separately. All logistics have increased costs. The unfortunate thing about the decision is that the teams have had time to make a lot of investments regarding the hybrid units, Latvala describes.
The removal of hybrids reduces the performance of the car, but it is compensated by reducing the total weight of the cars.
However, the performance drops clearly when the throttle and aerodynamics are restricted. Latvala hopes that especially the changes related to the choke would be discussed further.
In order to adapt to the new rules, the teams have to start the engine development work all over again.
– When the throttle is reduced, the power and maybe the torque decreases. We know where we are now with the engine. It requires testing when the engine needs to be optimized for a new choke, Latvala explains.
The teams’ test days are limited, so Latvala’s concern is justified.
– The easiest thing would have been to just stay in the current stranglehold. I think there will be additional costs here. We hoped for as few changes as possible. We have time to react to the changes, but we still have to wait for the final confirmations before making bigger decisions, says Latvala.
In Latvala’s opinion, the current rally1 car is the fastest rally car he has ever driven. According to him, simply dropping the hybrid would have brought the car sufficiently closer to the rally2 cars that are currently driven in the second class of the World Championship, i.e. the WRC2 series.
In the coming season, the rally2 car will be able to compete even more tightly for the points of the World Series general competition. It is possible to add a so-called WRC package (WRC kit) to Rally2 cars, which improves their performance. Within the framework of the package, it is possible to add, for example, paddle shifters to the cars, which are not allowed in rally1 cars.
The goal of the reform is that there could be more cars in the main class in the coming season. This way, for the first time in decades, cars with big technical differences can be driven more or less equally from the points.
This can cause a conflict if the rules are not prepared carefully: rally2 cars might even get an advantage over rally1 cars.
– Next season’s rally1 cars will be closer to rally2 cars than before. We have to be careful that after the changes to the rally2 cars, the rules meet, says Latvala.
Latvala praises the decision on mobile maintenance
From the spectators’ point of view, rallies will also change in other ways in the future. From 2025 forward, race organizers can freely decide when the rallies start. The number of special test kilometers can also vary more.
This means that short sprint races can be seen in the World Series as well as longer endurance races. However, all rallies must end in Sunday’s Power Stage, as in the past.
Savings are sought by reducing the staff working in the stables’ rallies and by shortening the transitions between special tests. Maintenance parks will also be reduced, and all maintenance will no longer need to be organized in just one maintenance park in the future.
In Latvala’s opinion, these guidelines are good for the species.
– Allowing mobile maintenance and reducing the number of service parks and personnel in rallies will certainly help the sport. As well as the fact that the FIA improves the marketing of the series in cooperation with the promoter, Latvala praises.
In Latvala’s opinion, it’s all good that rally1 cars will be continued until the end of the 2026 season.
– Now the direction has opened for what will be done from 2027 onwards. It is a good thing. Discussions will certainly continue on this. Let’s see if there are still some solutions to be found before everything is hammered on the table.
The new rules are supposed to be finally confirmed next summer. Latvala believes that all the reforms will be confirmed very soon.
– Discussions will certainly start within a few days. Within these guidelines, there will hardly be any more big changes, he reflects.