A new points scale for the WRC in 2024

As announced during the last World Council in Baku, the FIA ​​has decided to transform the allocation of points in the WRC next year. The goal is to make Sunday more attractive even if it means making a victory lose its value.

Le WRC needs changes. All parties concerned are aware of this and are looking for ways to avoid the definitive disintegration of this competition. The technical aspects requiring several years to be put in place, it was difficult to imagine seeing the Rally1 become miraculously less expensive when it is the only real solution for the WRC to escape its negative spiral. The attractive aspect of the event format also being instantly impossible to achieve while the organizers were already working on their races, there was only one fuse left to intervene on: the points.

The scale will therefore be modified through a new system, not exactly simple, which will mainly aim to avoid the deadly Sundays where all the Rally1 competitors only aimed at the Power Stage. We now have to get used to it. There will be 3 distributions of rewards. The first and most important will take place on Saturday evening. According to the ranking, the first 10 will receive:

1^er = 18pts
2^e = 15pts
3^e = 13pts
4^e = 10pts
5^e = 8pts
6^e = 6pts
7^e = 4pts
8^e = 3pts
9^e = 2pts
10^e = 1pt

These will only be given if the drivers finish the race on Sunday. During this final day, a specific ranking will be established and will offer a new swig to the first 7:

1^er = 7pts
2^e = 6pts
3^e = 5pts
4^e = 4pts
5^e = 3pts
6^e = 2pts
7^e = 1pt

Finally, the Power Stage – last special of a rally – does not disappear and remains as profitable as until now.

1^e = 5pts
2^e = 4pts
3^e = 3pts
4^e = 2pts
5^e = 1pt

A rule far from ideal…

This means that a driver performing well will be able to score a maximum of 30 points (18+7+5) at the end of an event. The pernicious (aberrant?) side of this scale is that the winner "on time" of a round will not be guaranteed to receive more points than his rivals who will have had an efficient Sunday.

This new rule is very far from ideal. Many questions arise concerning in particular the starting orders on Sunday or the fact of restarting the race after having abandoned for a day or even the relevance of making a classification with points for a few timed kilometers on the last day... If the main thing is undoubtedly to show that the WRC is still moving, there remain questions to be resolved. Is this solution the one that should encourage the arrival of new manufacturers in the competition? Finally, how will this scale avoid seeing rounds with only 8 Rally1s at the start in 2024?

ALSO READ > QUIZ – Are you really knowledgeable about the 2023 WRC season?