We saw constantly that this is rarely used as step up platform. Only Toyota seems taking drivers from support series, but one of the spots will always be reserved for their own japanese or finnish...
Generally, money and getting sponsors is an issue for them, also the insurance cost after their big crashes in the previous seasons is very high. They had to spend a lot of money recently, and...
Top young drivers can showcase themselves in WRC2 cars and much more cheaply (relatively). There's really no need to spend the crazy sums on a Rally 1 drive, even though us fans like to see them.
Quite a bit of snow/rain in forecast at the moment, looks quite promissing!
Also, Norbert Herczig is planning to return to the ERC this season with Llarena's Yaris Rally2. If this materializes remains to be seen.
2025 ERC News & Rumours