The reason behind the change is the transformation of the top category cars in the World Rally Championship. At the end of last year, the FIA decided that the so-called WRC27 cars will be technically closer to current Rally2 cars, and a price cap of €345,000 will be introduced. The technical regulations are expected to be finalised by late summer.
Currently, Rally1 cars sit at the pinnacle of the FIA’s rally pyramid. Beneath them are Rally2 cars, which form the top class in series such as the European Rally Championship and numerous national rally championships.
Below that is the four-wheel-drive Rally3 category, where competition has grown slightly in recent years. Rally3 cars are used in the JWRC class of the World Rally Championship. The front-wheel-drive Rally4 and Rally5 categories sit at the base of the pyramid.
The FIA has not yet decided how the class structure will be revised for 2027.
“We will build a new rally pyramid. Rally1 will disappear, so we need to redesign all the pyramids,” FIA technical director Xavier Mestelan Pinon told DirtFish.
The change is necessary because the performance of the upcoming WRC27 cars will be closer to today’s Rally2 vehicles.
“We need to work on it to know exactly, behind the new regulation, what will be the category just before the top class? Is it the current Rally3? Do we have to fine-tune the current Rally3?” Mestelan Pinon pondered.
In the first year, the WRC27 cars will use internal combustion engines, but teams will be granted more freedom in later seasons. Powertrains may be combustion, hybrid or electric.
According to Mestelan Pinon, the lower classes are likely to continue using combustion engine solutions even after 2027.
