A working group under the FIA presented its proposal for radical rule changes at the end of February, which includes plans to discard the hybrid units of Rally1 cars after this season, along with other significant changes to the rally cars already for next year.
The FIA is set to confirm these future rules at the World Motor Sport Council meeting in June. However, according to Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul, the timeline is far too tight.
“It is vital that we have very quick rules ratified by the World Motor Sport Council so that we can simply work towards these regulations. For me, the timing of June is simply not possible for us to be able to do a good job for next year,” Abiteboul slammed, according to Autosport.
Abiteboul believes that the FIA can find ways to make a quicker decision if there is enough willingness in the governing body.
“They must appreciate that a ratification of rules in June for a car that needs to be designed, tested and validated for January, it is not a lot of time to design, build, test and validate”, Abiteboul emphasized.
Besides removing the hybrid unit, the cars’ aerodynamic features are set to be reduced, and the air restrictor will be downsized. These changes aim to lower the costs of Rally1 cars, but at the same time, they incur development costs for the current teams.
And above all, development work requires time.
“We are talking about substantial changes to the car and the power and weight distribution and aerodynamic behaviour, and the change to the wing is not a small change. I don’t want to put a figure on it, but it is a huge change.”
“I know we are not in Formula 1, but aero in rally still matters and we are talking about balance shifts, and we need to do a good job around it. There are guidelines but now we need rules and as quickly as possible.”
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