Transfers, calendar, rules… What will change in WRC in 2025

A new year means a new WRC season... but also new faces and new rules! Discover here the main changes for the 2025 World Rally Championship campaign.

Published 20/01/2025 à 13:23

Dorian Grangier

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Transfers, calendar, rules… What will change in WRC in 2025

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Transfers: the Fourmaux attraction

The Rally1 grid may not be as packed as we'd like, with just nine cars entered full-time in 2025, but there are a few changes to note compared to the previous campaign. The transfer of the year is of course the arrival ofAdrien fourmaux in Hyundai, aboard a third i20 N registered for the full season. The Frenchman, sheltered by M-Sport and impressive in 2024 with five podiums on the Ford Puma, convinced the South Korean team to trust him in a factory program. The Frenchman will have the weapons in hand to compete with the best and, perhaps, take his first victory in WRC.

In this WRC 2025 grid, we also note the appearance of two new faces in Rally1. New… not really. Indeed, Sami Pajari is no longer a stranger to Rally1, he who had participated in three rallies in the premier category in 2024. The WRC2 champion has received the confidence of Toyota who will engage him for the full season… with a B team, but on the same Yaris as his teammates from the official team. Finally, Josh McErlean will discover Rally1 with M-Sport Ford, he who has competed three seasons in WRC2 without being really convincing….

WRC 2025 – All transfers
???????? Adrien fourmaux : M-Sport Ford (2024) ➡️ Hyundai (2025)
🇫🇮 Sami Pajari : WRC2 (2024) ➡️ Toyota (2025)
(I.e. Josh McErlean : WRC2 (2024) ➡️ M-Sport Ford (2025)
Departures after 2024
🇫🇮 Esapekka Lappi
: Hyundai (2024)
🇳🇴 Andreas Mikkelsen
: Hyundai (2024)

Calendar: three new events

There's not much new in terms of drivers, of course, but on the calendar side, get ready to discover new landscapes! In 2025, there will be no fewer than three new events on the WRC calendar, each more exotic than the last. After the series of historic rallies Monte-Carlo / Sweden / Kenya to start the championship, the WRC will head to the Canary Islands. The Spanish archipelago, a traditional meeting place for theERC, welcomes the world circus for the first time on what will certainly be the most beautiful rally on asphalt of the year.

After the Canary Islands, a series of five European rallies on gravel await the drivers (Portugal, Sardinia, Acropolis, Estonia, Finland), before a jump to South America in Chile. The WRC will then return to Central Europe and then Japan for the last two asphalt rallies of the year… but this season, it is a new event that will close the championship, with the very first Saudi Arabia Rally in the WRC. Like a little Dakar air to end the year…

WRC 2025 – The calendar
1. 🇲🇨 Monte Carlo
 (Asphalt/Ice) – January 22-26, 2025
2. 🇸🇪 Sweden (Snow) – February 13 to 16, 2025
3. 🇰🇪 Safari Rally Kenya (Earth) – March 20 to 23, 2025
4. 🇪🇸 Canary Islands (Asphalt) – April 24 to 27, 2025
5. 🇵🇹 Portugal (Earth) – May 15-18, 2025
6. 🇮🇹 Sardinia (Earth) – June 5-8, 2025
7. 🇬🇷 Acropolis (Earth) – June 26-29, 2025
8. 🇪🇪 Estonia (Earth) – July 17-20, 2025
9. 🇫🇮 Finland (Earth) – July 31 to August 3, 2025
10. 🇵🇾 Paraguay (Earth) – August 28 to 31, 2025
11. 🇨🇱 Chile (Earth) – September 11-14, 2025
12. 🇪🇺 Central Europe (Asphalt) – October 16-19, 2025
13. 🇯🇵 Japan (Asphalt) – November 6-9, 2025
14. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia (Earth) – November 27 to 30, 2025

Rules: Hybrid is over!

In 2025, the WRC will undergo a small revolution. While the cars will have much the same appearance as in previous seasons, with the Rally1 regulations, it is inside that the changes will be significant. Obviously, the main new feature for 2025 is... the removal of the hybrid system, which has been the subject of much debate since its introduction in 2022. Unreliable, too heavy, too expensive and not really interesting from a sporting point of view, this system has simply been removed to reduce costs and make the cars more reliable. As a result, the Rally1s are relieved of 80 kilograms, and their weight therefore drops from 1260 to 1180 kg.

In order to counterbalance this weight reduction and maintain a reasonable power-to-weight ratio, the air intake restrictor will be reduced by one millimeter and will go from 36 mm to 35 mm in order to slightly reduce the power of the combustion engine. Thus, the non-hybrid Rally1s will have a similar power-to-weight ratio to the hybrid Rally1s. The fuel used will always be 100% sustainable. Another new feature: the tires. From 2025, Hankook will become the official manufacturer of the WRC in place of Pirelli. The South Korean firm, despite its limited experience in rallying (present in the ERC since 2023), will have the difficult task of supplying all categories until 2027, which will inevitably create an adaptation period for all crews.

In the Sporting Regulations this time, the big change for this year 2025 is the points scale, which has been modified again after being criticized in 2024. Last year's system receives some adjustments in order to restore the importance of victory. Thus, the winner of the rally will pocket 25 points (then 17, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 for the first ten). The distribution of Saturday evening is eliminated and the allocation of the Sunday stage – the Super Sunday – will only apply to the first five with 5 points for the first (then 4, 3, 2, 1). The Power Stage does not change and will still offer 5 points to the fastest driver on the last special stage of the rally. In total, a maximum of 35 points can be scored over a rally weekend.

ALSO READ > WRC 2025 Guide – Should we be worried about Hankook?

Dorian Grangier

A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.

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Joaquim Goncalves

21/01/2025 at 05:24 a.m.

Next season is going to be exciting with adrien at hyundai plus rovanpera back

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