– The new technical regulations for the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2027 have sparked a new debate about the starting order. One of the options being discussed for the coming year is the return of a qualifying session.
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The determination of the starting order for the special stages has long been a contentious issue in the service park. Now the discussion has flared up again as the WRC faces the introduction of radical technical regulations.
Next year, the current Rally1 cars will be replaced by WRC27 vehicles. In terms of performance, the cars will be at a similar level to today’s Rally2 cars. These are allowed to start in the same class as the WRC27 cars.
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To ensure the greatest possible equality of opportunity, Rally2 manufacturers can homologate an upgrade kit for 7,500 euros that provides aerodynamic equalization between the two vehicle types.
A side effect of these regulations affects the starting order. Theoretically, a Rally2 car starting further back in the field could find much better road conditions on gravel rallies than the top-category WRC27 cars.
This could mean a huge advantage, which would be even more significant without the current performance difference between Rally1 and Rally2. In extreme cases, a private Rally2 team starting as the 50th car could even fight for the overall victory.
Toyota calls for adjustment of sporting regulations
Especially Toyota, which was the first manufacturer to develop a WRC27 car, is pushing for a solution to this problem. “I think this is a really important issue whose significance we cannot ignore,” said Tom Fowler, Toyota’s technical director, when asked by the English-language edition of Motorsport.com about the situation regarding the starting order.
“If we look at a gravel rally today, take the first starter in a Rally1 car and compare it with the first Rally2 car, which might start in twelfth position, then the Rally1 car can just barely beat the Rally2 car. That means the difference in starting order between position one and twelve currently corresponds to a power difference of 100 hp,” Fowler calculates.
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“So if you have the same power according to the technical regulations, you can never make up this performance difference. That is impossible. So it has to be regulated on the sporting side. You have to understand: If you compete with cars that have the same power-to-weight ratio, the cars must also run under similar conditions,” demands Fowler.
Is the return of qualifying the answer?
“And that can only be done through the sporting regulations. The goal for the sport is clear: We must ensure that in the end the best driver in the best car can still win. Any distortion caused by a strange starting order is not really justifiable.”
This dilemma about the starting order has reignited the discussion about whether the WRC should reintroduce a qualifying stage before the rally to determine the starting positions. The system was last used in the WRC in 2013 but is still in use in the European Rally Championship (ERC).
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In the ERC, where the Rally2 category forms the top class, the system has proven to be the fairest method to determine the starting order at the beginning of a rally. The fastest 15 drivers of the qualifying stage – which is run in the order of the championship standings – start in reverse order on gravel rallies. On asphalt, however, the fastest 15 drivers start the rally in the order of the qualifying results.
FIA is aware of the problem
The FIA, the world governing body for motorsport, has confirmed that the reintroduction of a qualification is among the options being considered for changes to the sporting regulations for 2027. The goal is to finalize the sporting regulations in October.
“We are working on the sporting regulations. The plan is to bring the first parts to the level of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in August. The work is ongoing, and we have a few weeks to complete it. After that, we have to present it to the WRC Commission,” explained Emilia Abel, FIA Director of Road Racing.
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“I have the feeling that there is still some confusion about which cars belong to the WRC27 and are eligible for points in the manufacturers’ championship and what options there are for the Rally2 cars,” Abel admits. “So the first step would be to approve the championships and the homologation of the cars around that. The second phase then deals with the details of what we change. Let’s put it this way: The goal for the entire sporting regulations is to present it to the WMSC meeting in October.”
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