The FIA said it’s received interest from “more than 10” potential constructors for the 2027 Word Rally Championship regulations.
The World Motor Sport Council rubber stamped proposals to introduce a more inclusive constructor framework for the WRC27 regulations in December. These allow ‘tuners’ to homologate cars independently from manufacturers.
That was swiftly followed by the announcement of Project Rally One, headed by former Citroën team principal Yves Matton, as the first confirmed constructor for 2027.
Project Rally One’s car – based around the stipulated tubular spaceframe shell, with a 1600cc turbocharged engine delivering power to all four wheels – should begin testing in the spring.
It looks set to be followed by a number of similar projects, as the new regulations have raised unprecedented levels of interest in the WRC’s top tier.
“The tuner side, which is completely new for FIA and rally to allow a tuner to homologate a car, it’s a massive success,” Xavier Mastelan Pinon, the FIA’s chief technical and safety officer, said. “We have a lot of contacts, more than 10. So I don’t say that all of them will also finalize the project, but they are working hard to do that.”
The FIA is committed to helping interested parties through the process of evaluation and development to maximize the number of projects that reach fruition and translate into entries on the stages.
Project Rally One is acting as a standard bearer, blazing a trail which others can follow.
“They are the first tuners who officialize the fact that they will homologate a car,” said Mastelan Pinon when asked by DirtFish how important Project Rally One’s role had been in encouraging further interest.
“So for us it’s a very important point because that’s just the best thing to prove that it works well and the regulation is attractive for tuners, because this is just the first one.
“But you will see that we’ll have other ones in the future. So for us it’s very important, also important to work on again to discover some things that can be improved and to be sure that that would be suitable for tuners and manufacturers.”
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Nobody is suggesting that all expressions of interest will lead to cars competing in Monte Carlo next January, particularly considering the obligations that constructors must sign up to when they homologate a car. Mastelan Pinon would not be drawn on how many he expected to translate into 2027 entries.
He said: “It’s impossible to say, honestly. For sure not 10. It will be a big surprise. But impossible to say more than that, because it’s an ambitious project.
“When you take the decision to homologate a car, you need also to produce the car, so minimum 10 over two years. Plus you need to produce a car for all the people who want to buy your car, 10 per year. That’s a massive challenge for them also.”
While the level of interest from independent tuners is encouraging, a lack of confirmed manufacturer entries remains a concern. Mastelan Pinon acknowledged that manufacturers may be delaying their commitment while awaiting news on the acquisition of WRC Promoter.
“Our manufacturers, regarding the regulations, of course, we still have some technical detail to finalise, but, I would say, like all our regulations,” he said.
“We need to admit that as long as we cannot announce a new promoter there is a lot of questions that need to be fixed and discussed with a new promoter. So for sure this is something that we need to solve soon.”
But for FIA deputy president for sport Malcolm Wilson, any delay on that front does not diminish the positive impact generated by the new regulations so far.
“From my point of view, it’s such a significant step,” said Wilson. “We’ve never had, in my book, this sort of interest in the highest level of rally. And the fact that, as Xavier said, there’s 10 tuners interested… It took a long time to get the technical regs where they are but I think it’s sent out a clear message that these guys have gone down the right direction and it can only be a real benefit for the sport.
“It can be a real plus for the potential new promoter the fact that it’s going to have more teams/manufacturers/constructors. It’s a real positive.”
Dare we dream of a return to the level of interest shown a quarter of a century ago, when there were seven or eight manufacturers involved at the highest level of the WRC?
“It’s early days,” Wilson cautioned, “but let’s see. I mean the promoter is a key role but, yeah, there’s no reason [why not], especially now with the interest from the constructors.
“There’s work to do with the manufacturers. But then, on the other hand, we all know that there’s work to do with the promoter to get the manufacturers interested to get the return on investment.”
