Today there are 14 rounds in the WRC over the course of the year. The current season began with Rally Monte Carlo in January and will finish at the end of November with Rally Saudi Arabia.
The Formula One calendar contains as many as ten more race weekends, but there is significantly more time between seasons for drivers to recover and reset.
A single WRC rally means at least a week on the road for a driver, and the co-driver’s work trip is usually even longer. On top of that come the tests between events and any promotional duties, so the number of travel days during the year is substantial.
Toyota driver Evans told DirtFish that the WRC needs longer breaks. According to the Welshman, it has become difficult to maintain physical condition when the pace is so intense throughout the year.
“At the moment, it’s missing a few key breaks to look after yourself and I think it’s going to make quite a few of our careers shorter than they potentially could have been had the championship featured a few more breaks in it, I would say,” Evans said.
Among the current stars of the WRC, Ott Tänak recently announced he is stepping away from the series. The Estonian said he will pause his career to spend more time with his family. Kalle Rovanperä will also leave the WRC after this season and will pursue his next dream on the circuit racing side.
Evans believes that the number of rallies does not necessarily have to be reduced, but some changes should be made.
“If the schedule of the rallies can be a bit more forgiving, then it wouldn’t necessarily have to be less. But something has to give somewhere, whether that be in the number of events or the timescale of the events,” Evans explained.
In almost all other sports there are several months of break between seasons. But rally drivers have no time to rest when the final round of the season has finished.
“I don’t think anybody has a season as long as we do. We barely have a summer break and we definitely don’t have an off-season break,” Evans underlined.
“If you look at mountain biking, they have them from the end of October until March. Even Formula 1 has from the start of December until March. We seem to finish at the end of November and already we’re winter testing before Christmas.”
The 2025 WRC season will end with Rally Saudi Arabia from 26 to 29 November.
