We need to talk about the WRC

Braking and steering systems are derived from junior Rally2 machines to reduce costs, while the powertrain framework ‘allows for future powertrain flexibility, leaving the door open for alternative technologies later in the cycle’. The price of a WRC27 car in tarmac-specification is capped at €345,000.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, himself a multiple regional rally champion, claims the new rules will cut costs without hurting the spectacle: ‘The WRC27 regulations represent a pivotal moment for the FIA World Rally Championship. They establish a framework focused on cost control, sustainability and accessibility, while safeguarding the performance and technical challenge that define rallying at the highest level.’

Well, it worked wonders for endurance racing, though I’m also reminded of the new F1 technical regulations – there is stuff to be optimistic about, other things that are quite concerning, but nobody will really know until the cars start running in anger early next year. Mind you, I’m hearing that WRC27 development cars are currently slower than Rally2 machines, though I haven’t been able to confirm as much. For all the uproar around Formula 1’s energy starved new powertrains, at least those cars are still significantly faster than their counterparts from F2. I suspect the natural order will be restored before the start of the new season.

How these cars look, sound and perform on the special stage is one thing – whether they attract a far greater depth of competition, new manufacturers and teams, and inspire the world’s greatest rally drivers to take the championship seriously again is another, and it’s arguably the more important point. As things stand, however, only one manufacturer, Toyota, has confirmed it’s developing a WRC27 car for the start of the new era. Hyundai is expected to field upgraded Rally2 machinery while M-Sport hasn’t said either way. Just one independent team, Project Rally One, is known to be developing its own car. Dawning of a new era, or false dawn? We’ll know soon enough.

The outgoing Rally1 regulations proved controversial in part because of their cost, but also because of the hybrid component that was their centrepiece at launch before it was junked for the 2025 season. The cost of repairing the hybrid unit, a control item used by all the teams, was spiralling. Since the start of last season the cars have run without it, forgoing the 130bhp electrical power boost, though they’re lighter by 87kg. The WRC’s marquee environmental statement simply proved too costly.

Though the current cars can cost €1m apiece, which is evidently too much given the shallow depth of competition, they can be spectacular to watch. The action at the front of the field is still breathtaking, which makes my apathy for the WRC all the more confusing. If the new regulations reduce not only costs but also drama, the series really could be in crisis.

Speaking to us at the Sunday Scramble at Bicester Motion over the weekend, Prodrive and Motorsport UK chairman David Richards advocated for a holistic approach: ‘You don’t get depth of competition at the top level unless you sort it out at the grassroots level. What we’ve got to do is encourage more people into motorsport at the base level. If everybody out there thinks the only way to get into motorsport is to have deep pockets and a car that looks like Lewis Hamilton’s, we’re not going to get the people coming to compete. If we can get that going in rallying again, that will lead through to the World Championship.’ Eventually, I suppose.

In an ideal world, how would the technical regulations look? I remember watching an old Colin McRae onboard with multiple WRC rally winner Kris Meeke. He was mesmerised by it, as millions of fans have been over the years. Meeke reckoned you could get back to something similar, something every bit as spectacular to watch from the side of the stage or via onboard camera, simply by slashing aerodynamic downforce. Cars with stacks of aero must be driven a particular way – neatly, in as straight a line as possible – while cars without it can be flung through bends at ludicrous angles once more.

In that sense at least, maybe the WRC27 regulations will be a step in the right direction. Others would go further still – give ’em stacks of power, manual transmissions, rear-wheel drive only and let’s see who the best drivers really are. A tantalising prospect, but it’s never going to happen.

It seems reductive, but I also think the cars need to be bigger. Is a little Ford Puma or Hyundai i20 really an aspirational car among motorsport enthusiasts? Would it not be better if rally fans with buying power could be wowed on the stages by the sort of mid-sized car they’re more likely to drive on the road? There’s a reason Mitsubishi and Subaru sold so many Evos and Imprezas during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Indeed, Subaru’s wildly successful WRC programme throughout that era proved transformational for the marque, particularly in Europe where powerful Impreza road cars became firm favourites among enthusiast buyers. Before then, says Richards, Subaru in the UK was selling ‘pickup trucks to pig farmers’.

Britain hasn’t hosted a round of the WRC since 2019, which certainly hasn’t helped me engage with the sport in recent times. But from next season onwards, a new event based in the north of Scotland will bring the world’s best rally drivers (or some of them, at least) and teams back to the UK at long last. You’ll know where to find me.

I could list all the other reasons the WRC has lost so much of its charm, like the maddening points system that means the second-placed crew can score almost as many championship points as the guys who win. This was refined for 2025 following widespread criticism the year before, but the system still devalues an overall victory. The events are a shadow of their former selves, too. In the 1980s the Safari Rally ran for thousands of stage miles; these days it’s just a couple of hundred. I’ll stop there – increasing the depth of competition and bringing the biggest stars back into the fold seem like the most urgent priorities.

Along with new regulations for 2027, the WRC will also have a new promoter, although with only a few months to go before the start of this brave cost-cutting era, no new commercial rights holder has been announced. If there is a great reset for the WRC heading our way, it will come not a moment too soon.