Earlier this week, the FIA, the sport’s governing body, revealed the main guidelines for the next generation of rally cars. The most significant change is the implementation of a price cap of €345,000 for top-tier cars starting from 2027.
In practice, the new top-class cars will closely resemble current Rally2 cars, both in cost and technology. At present, there is a substantial difference between Rally1 and Rally2 vehicles, but that gap will narrow considerably in the future.
This shift has raised concerns, including from reigning world champion Thierry Neuville. While WRC drivers have enjoyed the speed and performance of Rally1 cars, the FIA aims to rein in the pace slightly. But will the next generation of rally cars become too slow?
“The base of what they want to create is interesting, but I’m really worried about running Rally2 cars as the new Rally1 cars,” Neuville told Motorsport.com.
“How will you handle the national championships? You will have Rally2 cars going faster than the new Rally1 cars. When you are starting second or third on the road and the older cars are starting 45th, a privateer will go faster than an official driver,” the Belgian Hyundai star pointed out.
The FIA, the WRC Promoter, and manufacturers in the championship held joint discussions about the new regulations. Teams have also voiced concerns, particularly about the price cap, which they believe is too low.
Neuville, meanwhile, is frustrated that drivers were not included in the discussions.
“I will make an email to the FIA, because I think overall with the drivers we had a lot of discussion about it,” Neuville said.
“The proposal is interesting but we are not happy, because we proposed to have one driver in the technical working group and they never accepted to put one of the drivers in the group. I think we have a lot of interesting input as well, but they just didn’t want it. That is why we basically voted no, but the proposal is interesting,” the champion added.