The FIA is committed to increasing the number of participants for each round of the race World Rally Championshipis looking for ways to do this make the series cheaper and more competitive. However, a new set of rules will come into force in 2027 In the meantime it has taken care of the current top level Rally 1 Toyota, Hyundai and Ford cars can be driven without it performance-enhancing hybrid unitsa stricter throttle can be installed to reduce engine power, and each car receives less downforce to reduce speed. The manufacturers and drivers hate this idea, but Toyota built and tested its current GR Yaris car in this proposed specification anyway. To put it bluntly: it sucked.
In This tweet comes from Twitter user @llluis555 You can see the closed hybrid ventilation openings and the smaller rear wing that were implemented for the Toyota test. It’s immediately clear that this car would be much slower, as it lacked the impressive rear downforce of the 2024 Yaris and would only produce 330 horsepower instead of the currently permitted 500+.
All three current manufacturers have come together to formally ask the FIA to allow the current hybrid and downforce regulations to remain in place until the end of 2026 so that they can focus on building a new car for 2027. Drivers have also expressed their determination to oppose the proposed changes. After driving the modified Toyota, driver Elfyn Evans said in typical rally driver succinctness, “I can tell you it wasn’t that exciting.”
When asked if the car was drivable, he replied: “I started and finished my run, so I guess if that’s your definition of drivable, then I think it was.” When asked for further explanation and When asked his thoughts on whether the non-hybrid car was the right step for 2025, “my opinion is very clear.”
The FIA apparently wants to reduce the speed of the Rally1 cars while improving the speed of the current Rally2 cars. This would allow a lower cost formula currently used by privateers to be competitive with the factory effort for overall WRC victories. It’s obvious the FIA would prefer this as it reduces Toyota, Ford and Hyundai’s influence on the series if they were to exit, but it also reduces the factory teams’ chances of grabbing headlines in rallies around the world conquer world. Why would they continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing these cars only to be beaten by a local in a Skoda?
Each of the three manufacturers currently fields between two and four drivers in each rally, so that there is a starting field of around eight Rally1 participants for each round. This season’s cheaper Rally2 featured another dozen or more drivers on each lap. If the two classes were to merge, around twenty drivers could fight for overall victory instead of the current number of fewer than ten drivers. Would that be a more interesting rally? Perhaps. But you could argue that it’s the power and downforce of the current Rally1 cars that make the sport so compelling, and taking that away would have a negative impact on rallying overall.
I mean, you can’t watch this on board Ott Tänak driving his Hyundai in Croatia without getting a little excited. Now imagine the same car with significantly less downforce and significantly less power. Would it be just as fun to watch?
Drivers like Tänak, Lappi, Ogier, Evans and Rovanperä will figure out how to get to the top regardless of their cars’ performance, but it’s far more interesting to watch how they tame these fire-breathing beasts. The current WRC Rally1 cars are significantly faster and more exciting to watch than any previous WRC era, and I think that’s the great appeal of the series. If anything, I would argue that the cars could use another 100 to 200 horsepower. Why not?