Rally1 cars are set to be ratified for use in national championships around the world this season.
Traditionally, the sport’s top tier had always been seen in domestic rallying until 2017, when the FIA restricted their use to the World Rally Championship only. That control was lifted with cars seen outside of the world series in recent seasons, albeit with smaller turbo restrictors.
There was some original concern about regulating the use of hybrid cars outside of the WRC, but sources have told DirtFish those have been ironed out and the machinery seen in Monte Carlo last week could be coming to the lanes near you in the future.
The source said: “Naturally, some of the teams are more motivated by this. I think it’s no secret that our British friends [M-Sport] will be very happy for this move.
“It makes a lot of sense. We have a world of people, of fans, who are wanting to see these cars and the [WRC] calendar doesn’t take us everywhere.
“We talked about the potential for stripping the hybrid from the cars – making these cars a little bit like the Regional Rally Cars we saw some years ago.”
A Regional Rally Car was a detuned 2011-specification World Rally Car.
There also remains the potential for private drivers to use detuned versions of the 2017 World Rally Car this year in the world championship.
