The radical World Rally Championship points system introduced this season that has divided opinion is being reviewed and could undergo a change next year.
This year’s all-new points structure has proved a hot topic among competitors and fans thanks to its complexity and weighting that many feel has devalued the overall rally victory.
This year, points have been split across Saturday and Sunday with drivers able to claim provisional points for their overall position at the end of Saturday’s leg which are then banked if they reach the end of the rally.
A sliding scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 is awarded to the top 10 at the end of Saturday, but only to those crews who reach Sunday’s event finish.
In addition to this, Sundays offer up a separate points allocation [7-6-5-4-3-2-1] to the top seven fastest crews across Sunday’s stages on top of the 5-4-3-2-1 system for the top five times on the rally-ending Power Stage.
While the new system was designed to improve the action on Sunday, and has been highly effective at creating excitement, drivers and teams have been highly critical of the points weighting of the system that has been derided on several occasions. The ire seems to stem from the fact that a rally winner can quite easily leave the weekend without scoring the most points.
Four proposals to amend the points system for next year have been submitted and are currently being evaluated by the WRC Commission.
“We have currently four proposals, different systems that we are checking to see how each system if it was in place today would look,” WRC Commission president Pernilla Solberg told Motorsport.com.
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“We now want to make sure everyone agrees and understands and then that will be voted on later this year.”
FIA road sport director Andrew Wheatley expects the WRC Commission will commit to an evolution of the points system for 2025.
“Some people have complained about the point system,” said Wheatley.
“Others have used it a bit strategically or to their advantage, or used it to get them out of jail. But then other people don’t want to put the risk in.
“What we haven’t heard this year so far is that we’ve had boring Sundays.
“I think there will be an evolution, no question, It will be decided by the WRC Commission and they don’t have to do that until the last session of the year.”