The WRC regulations 2027 are met with scepticism by drivers and teams: Is the difference between Rally2 and the premier class too small?
World Champion Thierry Neuville reacts cautiously to the technical regulations for the 2027 World Rally Championship (WRC) adopted this week by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. On the one hand, the Belgian criticizes the lack of driver involvement in technical matters and the fact that the WRC would become too far removed from the series in technical terms.
In addition, Neuville fears that the difference between the WRC top-class and Rally2 cars will be significantly smaller in the future. “The basis for what they want to achieve is interesting, but I am really concerned that the Rally2 cars will be as fast as the new Rally1 cars,” Neuville said when asked about the new rules by Autosport during a media session at the Rally Monza.
A concern also shared by Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala: “The FIA wants to make them [Rally1 and Rally2] more similar to make it easier for young drivers to get into the sport. But of course there has to be a difference,” said the Finn. “For me, Rally1 has to be at least one second per kilometer faster than Rally2.”
Otherwise, the goal of attracting more participants to the premier class would be missed. “We have to be careful that the difference between the cars is maintained. If they are too close, why would someone buy a Rally1 car when the Rally2 car is already so fast,” Latvala wonders. “Then there will be no privateers for the Rally1 cars.”
Neuville is also frustrated that drivers are not represented in the FIA’s technical working group. “We are not happy because we suggested sending a driver to the technical working group, but that was not accepted by the FIA. I think we also have a lot of interesting contributions, but they just didn’t want them,” said the reigning world champion disappointedly.
Opportunity to develop new technologies missed
Neuville also believes that the FIA has missed an opportunity to use the World Rally Championship as a platform for manufacturers to develop new technologies that could also be used in road cars. “We [at Hyundai] are developing brake-by-wire and steer-by-wire solutions and working on an active wheel suspension that will soon be found in all [road] cars.”
“Why don’t we take the opportunity to develop technologies together with the manufacturers and teach the engineers how to develop these things under real competitive conditions? At the moment we are doing exactly the opposite,” Neuville sees the development of the regulations as a step backwards.
“In Japan, we had a meeting with 45 engineers from Hyundai’s research and development center who asked us some questions, but we told them that we couldn’t help them because we don’t have any of this technology in our cars,” reports Neuville. ‘That’s frustrating. It doesn’t have to be expensive to develop an active suspension.’
