Rally1s without hybrid will be able to run in 2024

This time the situation must be really very serious. First there was an announcement regarding the points scale. Attempting to make Sundays less soporific, an additional allocation just for the last stage was invented. If this will certainly motivate the crews, there is little chance that it will excite the public or the spectators in front of their screens who will need calculators... It doesn't matter after all, it was undoubtedly essential to try something so that 2024 does not doesn't exactly look like 2023. In addition to this artifice, another even more surprising decision will come into force next year. It concerns the possibility of aligning oneself in WRC with Rally1s on which there is no longer a hybrid unit.

This possibility was considered when discussions with Compact Dynamics regarding the continued supply of hybrid units dragged on. If no contract had been signed, the cars could have run “the old-fashioned way” while they found a solution. Andrew Wheatley, the head of rallying at the FIA, also explained that this could be done within the framework of the national championships, but the world championship was probably not an option. This will ultimately be the case and it is surprising that such a step backwards is authorized in the elite where everything has been done to impose clean technology. According to a very long list of constraints and conditions, a Rally1 will be able to compete in the WRC without a hybrid. In particular, it will not be able to score Manufacturers points and the hybrid unit will have to be replaced by something else of similar size and dimensions with 10 kg ballast.

A new rule to help M-Sport?

This new rule seems to perfectly suit the way in which the M-Sport. For the good health of his business, it has always been important for Malcolm Wilson to be able to sell WRCs. Since 2017, this market has dried up, because cars were too expensive and their playing fields were limited. The English boss has sold very few Fiestas 2017 and even fewer Pumas. Being able to run with just a thermal Puma seems like a nice boost to M-Sport. Will this possibility motivate competitors with solid finances and thus provide resources to the English team which will be able to remain in the WRC? At first glance, this measure should not have the same resonance among Hyundai et Toyota. Unless…

For the Japanese, selling cars has never been on the agenda. Leaving such technology in the wild was unthinkable. With the opening of a customer competition service for the Yaris Rally2, could the TGR also want to run a Rally1 for private individuals while retaining ownership? Can there be a change in strategy with additional revenue at stake? The question will perhaps also arise for Hyundai, which has already sold WRCs in the past. Could there be any benefit in allowing a private individual to race with a “dehybridized” i20? By thinking further, can this path offer manufacturers a solution for fielding cars at a lower cost? Can Hyundai consider training a young person (Emil Lindholm?) in such conditions? Risking confusing the messages around the new clean technologies that brands are trying to develop, are these operations really likely to be carried out?

On paper, this idea of ​​a non-hybrid Rally1 demonstrates a saving grace in the face of a situation that no one wanted to recognize just a few months ago. This could, however, allow the beneficial arrival of a few additional competitors in the premier category. Who will complain about it?

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