FIA rally director Yves Matton has assured DirtFish the World Rally Championship’s hybrid plans are on track for January’s Monte Carlo Rally.
The series’ hybrid supplier Compact Dynamics recalled the teams’ kits last week, but is understood to have rectified the issue now.
Matton said teething troubles were to be expected in the delivery of technology new to rallying, but he was adamant the Rally1 generation cars would be delivered on time.
We are developing something new and it’s quite normal to have some issuesYves Matton
Asked by DirtFish if the cars would be ready for round one in 2022, Matton said: “Yes. There is no doubt about this.”
Matton outlined a progress report would be coming from the governing body to confirm the timeline hadn’t changed.
“I want to say it’s a quite normal process,” said Matton. “We are developing something new and it’s quite normal to have some issues.
“We are nearly on the track in the testing, we maybe lose a few days. It’s not up to me to tell you when the manufacturers will test their cars, but from what I know it will be very close to their initial plan.
“I would say it would be abnormal if we have no issue, it would mean we are taking something from the shelf and putting it in the car and this is not the case.
“Compact Dynamics is producing something new, putting everything on the same box and this is something they did not try to achieve in the past.
“There is a communication coming from FIA showing we are all working together with the different steps being done.”
For the first time the FIA is a joint investment partner in the hybrid program. When Citroën departed the WRC at the end of 2019, the FIA stepped in to fulfil the financial commitment left by the French manufacturer.
