So, no pressure then. It’s just the World Rally Championship’s immediate future on the line. Fortunately, Pernilla’s driving the meeting.
It’s Tuesday. It’s Geneva. It’s WRC Commission meeting day. This already big day got bigger on Thursday last week, when the three WRC manufacturers wrote to the FIA to ask for the series’ current Rally1 regulations to remain in place until the end of 2026.
That hybrid and the world’s fastest rally cars would be with us for the full homologation cycle wasn’t really in question until December last year, when FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem tasked his deputy Robert Reid and David Richards with a series deep dive via the WRC Working Group.
The initial findings, as we know, resulted in a proposed slower Rally1 and faster Rally2. The teams aren’t keen. And, for the first time in a long time, they were sufficiently united as to put their name to Thursday’s letter to world’s motorsport’s governing body.
That letter is likely to have given Tuesday’s agenda something of a shuffle. Previously, sporting was to leading topic for discussion. Suddenly, questions of remote services or streamlining and economizing each team’s infrastructure is likely to have taken a back seat. What if the FIA doesn’t listen? What if proposed regulation change is pushed through?
We’ll get to that. Now though, let’s talk about Pernilla.
Pernilla was a Walfridsson. Now she’s a Solberg. She was one of the world’s fastest Production Car competitors. Now she’s president of the WRC Commission. She was a world-beating team principal. Now a mother to one of the world’s fastest rally drivers.
All of that’s a little bit unfair: Pernilla will always be a little bit Walfridsson, she’s still a mighty quick driver and she didn’t beat the best in the world just once, she guided her PSRX Volkswagen Team to six world titles.
Pernilla is one of the most impressive people I know in the sport. Lots of people talk about living their life in the sport, but nobody does it in quite the way she does. Every branch of the Walfridsson-Solberg family tree is laden down with talent. And Oliver Solberg is evidence of apples not falling far from this particular tree.
The famous family’s nice, but Pernilla’s grasp of this sport – from pretty much every angle – is what sets her aside. She’s been there and done that. Nurtured grass roots talent on a global scale? Tick. Achieved as a driver in her own right? Yep. Supported her husband in his successful pursuit of the 2003 World Rally Championship? Indeedy. She’s as comfortable talking about the market value of part-worn snow tires as she is engaging in Tuesday’s high-wire debate to balance the teams’ desire for status quo with the FIA’s proclivity for change.
Pernilla’s depth of knowledge and experience is matched only by a relentless work ethic. She’s somebody who sees only the positive side of jet-lag. Wide awake at two in the morning on her first full Seattle day for last month’s, she was delighted to join meetings in Europe, then read dossier after document until the sun came up allowing her to spend Saturday advocating for more women in motorsport.
Believe me, when it comes to diligence and duty of care, the WRC Commission couldn’t be in safer hands.
Just as well, it’s going to be some chat to preside over for the first time.
And what happens if agreement can’t be found on the right formula to move us forward into 2025? It’s worth remembering, Tuesday’s about talking. Actual regulations are set by the World Motor Sport Council in June – and it’s quite likely that it’s only in that meeting that we would be made officially aware of any rule evolution.
But, if the FIA accepts the points made in the manufacturers’ letter, nothing need change on the technical front. Compact Dynamics already has a contract in place to supply hybrid componentry until the end of 2026 and the teams are quick to point to the economies of scale associated with running Rally1 cars across the full five years. Stopping at the end of three years would make current metal pricey. But spread those fixed research, development, tooling, engineering and production costs across the full homologation cycle and the per-season fee falls. Basically, the teams have already shouldered the majority burden of these extraordinary cars, so we might as well keep them in place for another two years.
Overwhelmingly, the sense from within the sport is of a bird in the hand being worth two in the bush. We’ve got – at least – eight factory cars at the front of the field right now. Does switching the rules guarantee us eight, 10 or 20 cars? Nobody really knows.
I still haven’t answered the question, have I? What will happen?
Again, nobody really knows. Toyota’s shown its already across possible rule change by running prototype cars through its Croatia test; come what may, the Japanese firm is ready. For Hyundai and Ford, it’s not nearly so clear cut. Both have made clear they would struggle to sell the board on spending more to make the current car slower.
And let’s look past broad sweeping statements of less aero here or whipping the hybrid out there. There will be development costs at a time when the homologation cycle makes little provision for such spend.
I’ll admit, I was in favor of a shift to Rally2. No kit, no add-ons. Just a straight swap. That was then. Diving deeper, it’s become obvious that Rally2-plus for €5000 is all-but impossible and the case for keeping Rally1 in place looks both strong and sensible.
Instead of fast-tracking change in six months, why not lock the Working Group and the sport’s other great brains in a darkened room for the same amount of time with the sole aim of delivering a winning, sustainable (in every sense), affordable and equitable set of 2027 regulations?
Just make sure Pernilla’s got the key. And the room.
