The WRC Commission has apparently agreed to abolish hybrid drive in the Rally1 cars in the World Rally Championship from 2025.
The hybrid era in the World Rally Championship (WRC) will apparently come to an end after just three years with the conclusion of the 2024 season. On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the WRC Commission of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) agreed to dispense with the hybrid unit in the Rally1 cars from 2025.
This was preceded by an electronic vote in October 2024 in advance of the Central Europe Rally. An official confirmation of the decision is still pending. This is not expected to happen until it is formally approved at the next meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Kigali on December 11, 2024.
The decision marks the end of a months-long wait on this issue. In February 2024, an FIA working group had initially proposed far-reaching changes to the Rally1 regulations for the 2025 season, including the elimination of mild hybrid powertrains.
Double U-turn on hybrids
However, this met with significant resistance from the manufacturers involved in the World Rally Championship. It was therefore decided in the summer of 2024 to maintain the current Rally1 regulations, including hybrid drive, up to and including the 2026 season.
The latest U-turn is primarily due to a new maintenance regulation from the manufacturer of the hybrid drives, which has been in force since the Acropolis Rally in September 2024. The manufacturer Compact Dynamics has stipulated that the hybrid unit must be sent to the manufacturer for inspection and repair if it has been subjected to an impact force of more than 15g three times or an impact force of more than 25g once.
This increased maintenance effort is associated with significant additional costs for the teams. M-Sport had argued that with this additional effort, the economic operation of the Rally1 cars was no longer possible.
All manufacturers agree to abolish
“We would prefer to get rid of them [hybrid drives] because we can’t repair and operate them at an economical price for M-Sport – we’re talking about an additional cost of several million euros, and that’s something we can’t handle,” team principal Richard Millener told Autosport.
Toyota and Hyundai had also subsequently agreed to forgo the hybrid drives introduced from the 2022 season for the good of the championship.