WRC mainclass from 2027

[Steve Boyd]

I can see the old R5 & Rally2 Cars going on and on for years, dropping down the rally levels like the Subaru's and Evo's before them.

I think you actually mean that old R5 & Rally2 cars will disappear from the higher levels over the next few years. There are already people using Rally2 cars on local single-venue club events - there's nowhere lower for them to go!

[saco0o]

"The WRC27 cars and current Rally2 machinery will run in the same class, with both cars chasing overall rally wins and the overall world championship title."

that was my biggest doubt. im 10000000000000000% happy if we have only R5s for 2027 or so.

[Maui J.]

Seems like these regulations are still somewhat vague as we still haven't heard any firm confirmation about anyone making a WRC27 car, with the championship less than 18 months away. Normally we hear at least rumours about new entrants years in advance before they actually hit the stages. For those who have been here for awhile, do we all remember the 'village idiots' coming with that new car!!! I wonder how those village idiots are doing now? Oh, that's right, they are winning everything. Anyway, back on topic...

My main concern is will the compulsory 10 cars put tuners off? Totally fine for Toyota or even M-Sport, and I can see where the FIA is going with this, but for a small tuner this is a massive investment without necessarily being about to sell them to customer drivers.

I do think the FIA is doing the right thing by easing the homologation rules and inviting tuners into the mix. Hopefully we will see a new era of WRC as we are seeing a new era in WEC. Teams such as Glinkenhaus, Vanwell and Isotta Fraschini could almost be interpreted as tuners. They were there (unfortunately all withdrawn now) mixing with the established manufacturers like Toyota, Porsche, Ferrari, Peugeot etc in endurance racing which was great to see, but they didn't have to make 10 compulsory cars. Is this going to be the thorn in the side of these new regulations?

[Eli]

Seems like these regulations are still somewhat vague as we still haven't heard any firm confirmation about anyone making a WRC27 car, with the championship less than 18 months away. Normally we hear at least rumours about new entrants years in advance before they actually hit the stages. For those who have been here for awhile, do we all remember the 'village idiots' coming with that new car!!! I wonder how those village idiots are doing now? Oh, that's right, they are winning everything. Anyway, back on topic...

My main concern is will the compulsory 10 cars put tuners off? Totally fine for Toyota or even M-Sport, and I can see where the FIA is going with this, but for a small tuner this is a massive investment without necessarily being about to sell them to customer drivers.

I do think the FIA is doing the right thing by easing the homologation rules and inviting tuners into the mix. Hopefully we will see a new era of WRC as we are seeing a new era in WEC. Teams such as Glinkenhaus, Vanwell and Isotta Fraschini could almost be interpreted as tuners. They were there (unfortunately all withdrawn now) mixing with the established manufacturers like Toyota, Porsche, Ferrari, Peugeot etc in endurance racing which was great to see, but they didn't have to make 10 compulsory cars. Is this going to be the thorn in the side of these new regulations?

I just think that 10 years ago (wow I can't believe it's been 10) Toyota announced that they would join the WRC in 2017 for the new regulations and there was already speculation Kris Meeke would join them...now, it's August 2025 and no manufacturer even from the existing ones can say they'll be there for sure until 2029....yes for sure Covid didn't help, but you'd think that in 10 years...someone would say they're joining, I honestly hope these regulations help or the WRC will die out before the next 10 years.

[RS]

In order to homologate one of these cars do manufacturers have to be comitted to entering a full WRC campaign?

If so there's two ways that could go.. either we get more manufacturers competing at the top, or we get fewer manufacturers building rally cars overall (when you consider Rally2)

[flat_right]

Seems like these regulations are still somewhat vague as we still haven't heard any firm confirmation about anyone making a WRC27 car, with the championship less than 18 months away. Normally we hear at least rumours about new entrants years in advance before they actually hit the stages. For those who have been here for awhile, do we all remember the 'village idiots' coming with that new car!!! I wonder how those village idiots are doing now? Oh, that's right, they are winning everything. Anyway, back on topic...

By "firm confirmation" do you mean new entrants? Because from the "old dogs", Toyota has said/hinted publicly that they are building a car and during Rally Estonia, I spoke with one Toyota member and he confirmed they are definitely building a new car already. When I asked about others, the said that Ford maybe but with Hyundai he said that he doesn't know as I think even in Hyundai no one knows.

https://www.rallit.fi/toyota-pomolta...la-niin-kauan/

"But in general, you can say that it takes about a year to design a car and it takes another year to test it. The rules have been available for six months, so you can tell from it where we are at, Fowler agrees to reveal."

[Fast Eddie WRC]

The timescale is just too tight as I said before and Mikkelsen confirmed he has been told by everyone but Toyota.

It looks like the best we can hope for is Toyota WRC27 Cars vs the existing Rally2 Cars.

But how will they feel if their customers in their old Yaris Rally2 car beats them ?!

[trykmann]

But how will they feel if their customers in their old Yaris Rally2 car beats them ?!

There is nothing a small software update wouldn't fix

[pedro16]

My main concern is will the compulsory 10 cars put tuners off? Totally fine for Toyota or even M-Sport, and I can see where the FIA is going with this, but for a small tuner this is a massive investment without necessarily being about to sell them to customer drivers.

Supposedly they have the whole season to do it.
And imagining it's a 3 car team, with only the team cars the numbers would be already close. 3+3 because of logistics with overseas rounds and 1 or 2 test cars.