During this period the WRC has gone full circle. There was a concept to abandon the hybrid-powered Rally1 cars entirely and install Rally2 as the top tier. There was the idea of creating a Rally2 plus category by downgrading Rally1 cars and upgrading current Rally2 cars. But on balance stability in Rally1 and Rally2 technical regulations for the next two years is the most sensible and logical outcome.

It is important to note that fundamentally stakeholders in the WRC want change to improve the championship; from its manufacturer involvement to better promotion.

This is why the FIA initially took action in the first place by setting up a working group to evaluate the future direction of rallying, which resulted in a raft of proposals, including a move to change the technical rules for 2025, communicated in February.  

As FIA road sport director Andrew Wheatley explained in April there were a number of reasons why the FIA took action to try and help the WRC reach its potential.

«There were three key elements, the first was Pirelli not committing [to a new tyre deal],» said Wheatley.

«The second, the drivers not wanting to do the [full] championship [Kalle Rovanpera going part-time] and the third was, and we always have this discussion about Ford, whether they are in or out, but there was an additional layer and that was about Hyundai continuing [in the WRC]. That has been a fundamental change in the discussion going forward.»

The teams and manufacturers at the end of the day are effectively customers and if a customer doesn’t like what is being presented, they simply won’t buy it. This in a nutshell is what has happened in the WRC. The FIA presented a radical vision which was resoundingly rejected as WRC teams united together and wrote a letter to the FIA in April requesting the technical rules to remain unchanged.

In hindsight, if the reforms were pushed through the change could have risked losing one of the three current Rally1 marques given their concerns about investing more funds into changing the current cars in a race against the clock for a two-year period, before new rules in 2027. Losing a manufacturer would have left the championship in a much more difficult predicament.

It will be seen as a victory for teams and the WRC Promoter, who also wasn’t in favour of the change either. Making changes for 2025 and 2026 was always unlikely to attract a new marque and could have shaken confidence among car makers if a five-year homologation cycle was cut to three years.

Toyota’s 2025 prototype testing also proved the top-tier product wouldn’t have been as exciting as the current hybrid formula, which has yielded five different winners in six rounds to date. After such a rejection by the manufacturers, ensuring the technical regulations remained unchanged was really the only logical option.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

It also suggests that following the blueprint of the World Endurance Championship that carefully and methodically navigated its way from the collapse of LMP1 to its now hugely successful Hypercar formula is perhaps the best practice rather than trying to place an immediate band-aid on a formula to solve its problems.

There is an argument that this debate has wasted a lot of time and energy that could have been focused on ensuring the 2027 regulations are the best they can be and the most enticing for prospective manufacturers.

However, there is actually a silver lining to all of this upheaval. Over the last six months, every aspect of the WRC has been thoroughly analysed which has instigated plenty of discussion and triggered much-needed changes to improve the promotional aspect of the series that may not have happened had the FIA not acted.

The under-fire WRC Promoter delivered its vision for the future in Portugal which has responded to concerns held by drivers and teams. The promoter has now committed an investment into making the WRC’s long-awaited venture to the USA happen in 2026, which could be a game-changer for the championship.

This coincides with moves to improve the fan experiences at events, and for those watching at home with testing of a new F1-style team radio package underway, while helmet cameras are also being tested. Some in the service park have suggested that there has been more progress to improve the championship’s appeal — and therefore return on investment for manufacturers — than ever before as a byproduct of the FIA working group.   

«With everything that has been done recently, one thing I can say that despite a lot of this not being what the teams wanted and wasting a lot of resource, we can’t argue that it didn’t put a rocket up the back of the championship,» M-Sport team principal Richard Millener told Motorsport.com.

«We now have a lot of movement, some strategies, some goals and a lot of talks. We know what is coming. The Promoter has told us their bit and the FIA has told us their bit. We need to keep that momentum going and I’m not sure we would have had that without some of what was discussed and put forward [by the FIA] and it has made everyone work together to get that going, so that is a positive.»

Interestingly Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who has been the most vocal about stability in technical regulations and improving the WRC’s promotion, was quoted in the FIA’s announcement this week alongside team representatives.

Neuville has arguably been the most critical of the FIA’s technical proposals and the WRC Promoter’s running of the championship, but it seems the decisions that have emanated from this six-month period of uncertainty have started to win the Belgian round.

«We got the roadmap a few weeks ago [from the WRC Promoter] already and it looks interesting and promising we have to say,» Neuville told Motorsport.com.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

«I think some work will be done which is positive but however I think our input is still needed by the teams and the drivers.

«That is why we are very pleased that there will be a communication between us and the promoter through [former co-driver to Sebastien Ogier] Julien Ingrassia, who will have an important role as well as Scott Martin [Elfyn Evans’ co-driver] who is the drivers’ voice in the WRC Commission.

«I think that is good and we will have a big input in terms of the promotion of events thanks to the opportunity of communication through Julien.»

But as they say, talking is one thing and actions are another. As Millener explains, the key now is to deliver on the conversations.

«We have had a lot of news over the last four or five weeks. The key now though is delivering on that. It is very easy to talk it but talking is the first element. We need to deliver now and that is still now down to all people involved. We can’t just do this one big push and then back off.»

The WRC has been working towards Tuesday’s World Motor Sport Council meeting, where several questions are expected to be answered.

At the top of the agenda are the technical regulations for next year and 2026 which has sparked plenty of heated debate since the FIA unveiled its proposals for the future of the WRC in February.

It is widely anticipated that the current Rally1 regulations will remain in place until the end of 2026.

This would represent a U-turn from the FIA proposal tabled in February by the motorsport’s governing body’s working group, set up in December, to «evaluate and recommend the future direction of rallying».

February’s proposal was built around a move to remove hybrid power from Rally1 cars from next year as part of a plan to close the performance gap to Rally2 cars through a reduction in aero, a modified rear wing, and a smaller air restrictor.

This coincided with a proposal for manufacturers to produce an optional upgrade kit for Rally2 cars to increase their performance to allow some competitors to battle at the sharp end of rallies.

The idea was strongly opposed by the current Rally1 teams and WRC2 manufacturers which resulted in a letter being penned to the FIA in April requesting for the current rules to remain in place.

The key gripes among the teams centred around the short timeframe to re-design, test and validate changes to cars for next season, and the fact that investments had already been made into the current cars, expected to compete across a five-year homologation cycle [2022-2026].

The FIA’s thinking was to increase entries and provide a smooth transition to 2027 when it plans to introduce new regulations built around the current Rally1 concept.

These 330-horsepower vehicles will use a common safety cell to reduce costs and allow manufacturers and tuners to develop cars with their own bodywork based on production models.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Vincent Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

Since February, there have been various meetings with stakeholders and the WRC Commission to find a solution moving forward, with an outcome expected on Tuesday. A dossier has been put together which will be tabled at the WMSC where a decision will be made.

While the FIA has remained tight-lipped as to what will be announced, speaking at Rally Sardinia the governing body’s road sport director Andrew Wheatley says a «smooth transition» towards 2027 can be expected.

«I think there has been an incredible amount of work done in the last three months and I think we are probably 50% of the way through the job,» Wheatley told Motorsport.com when asked about the upcoming World Motor Sport Council meeting.

«We have moved so far from the discussion that we had but that is partly because that has been fairly extensive discussions going on for quite a long time.

«I think what you will find is that we will be able to have a smooth transition towards 2027 and the concepts that have been generating and the positive energy, and hard work being put in is a testament that everybody believes that the World Rally Championship has a strong future.»

It remains to be seen what exactly this «smooth transition» equates to on paper, but WRC teams have already provided indications that Rally1, as we know it, will continue next year.

In Croatia, Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala suggested that he didn’t expect too many changes while in Sardinia, earlier this month, he said: «There has been a bit of talk in the media that the current cars will stay for the next two years which I assume.

«I believe this is the right way to go as the investment has been done and there is no point to do a big investment for a short period of time.

«Our focus should be on the 2027 regulations and all the teams agree on that, so that is what I hope. For me, the car with or without hybrid doesn’t make a big difference overall. No additional investment in these current cars, I think that would be best to save budget for everybody.»

Hyundai has made its stance clear with boss Cyril Abiteboul revealing that the uncertainty has forced the team to abandon its significant planned 2025 update to its current i20 N.

The former Renault Formula 1 boss believes the changes proposed to the Rally1 cars would create a product «not up to the standard» of the WRC.

This has resulted in the Frenchman telling his team to gamble on the current rules continuing with his design team working on improvements to the team’s current i20 N for next year.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

«It is high time that we have some clarity for the future first and foremost for the team and our design office because it is very tricky to define what cars and what regulation to work towards,» Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

«We have anticipated that and made some assumption on what the conclusion of the World Motor Sport Council will be, and hopefully our assumption will be confirmed. This is important so we can report back to headquarters as to what 20205 and 2026 is looking like.»

M-Sport-Ford is banking on stability in regulations for next year too, with the focus being firmly placed on ensuring the championship is in the best position possible to attract new marques for 2027.

«We don’t have any solid results [yet] but I think from everything I hear stability is the key and the focus is on 2027 which is what we want,» Millener told Motorsport.com in Sardinia.

«All the manufacturers are very aligned and very positive about trying to find a way for 2027. We are looking at different power trains and options, so there is no excuse for any manufacturer to enter, whether they do or not is a different story.

«We need this final sign-off and then we can go forward. I think we have had a difficult few months of instability, that wasn’t really required.»

Ireland tabled a bid to secure a three-year contract to host the WRC from next year, before it was halted in April after failing to obtain the required government funding.

The WRC Promoter had approved plans to bring the championship back to the island nation for the first time since 2009, if the required funding was secured. Motorsport Ireland had asked for €15 million from the Irish government to spread across the three-year contract, which it failed to secure within the required timeframe.

Motorsport Ireland estimated that the rally would generate €300 million for the local economy as it planned to rotate the rally through three locations – Waterford, Kerry and Limerick – across the proposed three-year deal.

Since April’s confirmation that funding wouldn’t be granted, Motorsport Ireland has confirmed that talks between the government and the WRC Promoter have continued as it hopes to bring the WRC to Ireland in 2026.

“Motorsport Ireland can today announce that it will continue to engage with Minister Thomas Byrne and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for the return of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) to Ireland,” read the statement.

“This follows recent negotiations with the WRC Promoter that mean that there remains the opportunity for hosting the WRC from 2026.

Armindo Araujo and Miguel Ramalho, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

Photo by: AIFA

“In order to assess the viability of Ireland hosting the WRC in 2026, Minister Byrne and his Department have informed Motorsport Ireland that any decision by Government to provide state funding to support the hosting of major sporting events needs to be underpinned by an independent economic analysis and business case, which should address the following:

“A detailed and comprehensive inventory of the services required to be provided by national and local government (including transport, security and other considerations); an assessment of the economic benefits and costs accruing from the event; and an analysis of the sustainability of the event.”

Reflecting on the recent developments, Motorsport Ireland president Aidan Harper added: “This is a progressive step in Motorsport Ireland’s plans to bring the World Rally Championship back to this island.

“Over the last month we have had constructive discussions with Minister Byrne and the WRC Promoter and we look forward to assisting Department officials with any additional information they require while carrying out their analysis.

“I greatly appreciate Minister Byrne’s commitment to undertaking the necessary assessments to consider an event of this nature. Ireland has demonstrated it can hold international motorsport events in the past and I have no doubt we will again in the future.”