Munster considering both Rally1 and Rally2 for 2026

With one eye on the World Rally Championship’s new regulations in 2027, Grégoire Munster is weighing up whether he’d be better off in a Rally1 or Rally2 car next season.

The current M-Sport Rally1 driver is coming to the end of his second full season in the top class, but has no deal in place for 2026 as yet.

The allure of contesting a full season against the world’s best drivers remains strong, but with WRC27 cars being closer in-line to Rally2 cars – and only Toyota so far projected to bring a brand-new car to the start of 2027 with rivals using Rally2 machines instead – the 26-year-old admitted to DirtFish he isn’t sure what the best option is for next year.

“I don’t know what the number one option is,” Munster told DirtFish, “because of the change of regulation it’s difficult to say what’s the best choice. And I think it happened a lot in the past that you’ve had drivers that came into rallying or the top class of WRC by so many different ways.

“Like if you take Andreas Mikkelsen and [Thierry] Neuville and [Esapekka] Lappi, they went through the IRC. You have [Sébastiens] Loeb and Ogier, they went through the Junior WRC. You have so many different possibilities to get there. And with the change of regulation, basically, it’s kind of a step down to WRC2 or Rally2 cars.

“So driving a Rally1 car is good in a way that you do 14 events and that you’re always in the car, have a nice rhythm, work with a team that has Rally1 experience and so on.

“On the other hand, since the regulation change the Puma hasn’t been as competitive as it was last year because I remember last year that I was in Chile, in Poland, in Japan, I was doing second fastest times just when things were clicking, having a nice road position. The car was competitive. Adrian [Fourmaux] proved it a couple of times, and I had the chance to do very competitive times as well on a rally like Poland which you wouldn’t say is my specialty.

“This year, it’s been much more tricky. So I don’t know if it’s the best option to… yeah, you can drive a lot, but in my position, when I’m fighting, for example, with Josh [McErlean], as I’m more experienced, if I’m in front of him, it’s kind of considered as normal. And if he’s in front of me, it’s considered bad publicity or there’s a problem. But on the other hand, it’s difficult to fight with the Toyotas and the Hyundais and show my potential.

“While going to a Rally2 car, for sure you drive less, but they’re all fairly in the ballpark. I mean, you can take a Citroën, a Škoda, a Toyota, you’ve had different winners in different cars [in WRC2 this year]. And so if you have a proper program where you have good testing and opportunity to show your potential in the field of Rally2, I’m not sure it’s a bad thing for 2027 where we’re not even sure to see a new car developed, because so far you only have Toyota that is developing one.

“M-Sport is interested as well, but they’ve said already it’s impossible for them to be at the start of the season, and other manufacturers have said exactly the same. So, is Rally2 car a bad thing? Not specifically. So, is M-Sport my number one choice? I don’t know.”

Outside perception is an important factor for Munster to consider, too, as that could be the key to him gaining a full manufacturer seat in 2027 or beyond.

Several drivers – not least WRC2 champion Oliver Solberg who’s now earned a full-time Rally1 drive with Toyota, or Munster’s old team-mate Adrien Fourmaux – have used the support category to boost their reputation.

Munster added: “I know I’m a better driver this year than last year. Last year, people were quite enthusiastic about some results I did, like top-five finishes at the end of the year, some encouraging, like I told you, second fastest times and so on.

“But this year it’s been almost more like bad publicity while out of the three M-Sport crews, we’re the only ones that managed to score a top five finish or a fastest time so far this year. For sure there is also the new tire and so on, so you might have to adapt your driving style, but I think everyone is aware that since the rules changed, our package is not as competitive as last year.

“I mean, you can even take the example of Mãrtiņš [Sesks], who was driving without hybrid last year and still managed to do a top five in Poland without hybrid against hybrid cars. And then he went on to Latvia where he was fighting for the podium with hybrid. But this year he still went to Finland and Estonia, which are similar kinds of events, but the pace against the Toyota and Hyundai was not there. He was faster than me and Josh, but he never could fight for top five stage time, while I think he also didn’t regress as a driver.

“So if I do one more year like this, is it going to help me for a 2027 seat? I don’t know. So like you say, maybe if you fight for podium in WRC2, then I’m in a better place for 2027.”

M-Sport is Munster’s most likely option for a Rally1 drive, but not necessarily his only as Ott Tänak’s decision to step away from full-time rallying has opened up a drive at Hyundai.

Asked if he had spoken to Hyundai about its Rally1 vacancy, Munster simply replied: “Yeah.”

Pressed if those conversations had gone anywhere, he added: “I can just say I spoke to them.”

One of Munster’s key backers, regular privateer driver Jourdan Serderidis, is also a complicating factor, as he won’t be financially supporting Munster for 2026. But the Luxembourger was keen to stress that was always the plan.

“It’s always been the plan of action,” Munster explained. “He helped me in ’23 for the Rally2. He helped me in 24 for the Rally1, because when [Pierre-Louis] Loubet stopped, we had an amazing opportunity. Because it was so last minute, actually in terms of the budget we had to bring, it was like a no-brainer to do it.

“But the plan has always been to reduce the funding and so this year he helped me more through the Dakar project. Basically, Jourdan wants to drive the Dakar, and so that was kind of the thing is ‘the season has been going good with Grég. I’m wanting to do the Dakar. Can we make sure Grég is at M-Sport and I drive a Raptor?’ That was the thing.

“Obviously now Jourdan, like he planned, said he doesn’t want to go back anymore because he feels that after two years experience at the top level in Rally1, I’ve done 29 races in a Rally1 car, and I should now be in a place to defend my case.”

While his future is up in the air, Munster’s immediate focus is on next week’s Rally Saudi Arabia where he is aiming to end his season on a high.

“I just want to have a good Saudi,” he said. “It could be my last event in Rally1, you never know, so I want to have no regrets.”