Can 2027 regs fix the World Rally Championship?

A blueprint to ensure the future of rallying’s top tier sets out to preserve its current strengths while dramatically reducing costs and bringing more teams on board

Amid ongoing uncertainty over the future participation of at least one manufacturer, there is a lot riding on the success of the FIA’s 2027 regulations for the World Rally Championship. Even before the governing body’s announcement of the rules in December last year, there was growing anticipation for the release of the WRC’s pathway.

The current Rally1 ruleset, introduced in 2022, produced spectacular cars, made incredible advances in safety, embraced hybrid power until 2024, and led the way in pioneering the use of sustainable fuel. But these cars come at an eye-watering cost of almost €1million each, far exceeding the original target. The regulations also failed to deliver on one key objective – attracting new manufacturers to the championship.

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Tom Howard

WRC

Toyota Racing

M-Sport

Hyundai Motorsport

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Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.