Saturday points in the World Rally Championship will be ditched for 2025 if the series’ latest proposal is accepted by the FIA.
The proposal, tabled by the WRC Promoter during last week’s Central European Rally, would bring an end to points being provisionally awarded on Saturday evening. Instead, the plan would be to return the points-paying emphasis to a general end-of-rally classification, with the addition of Sunday bonus points. The powerstage structure will also remain in place.
The general classification of points (25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1) will be locked in for 2025, with the fastest driver across Sunday taking five bonus points and the powerstage winner a further five. That means the perfect score would deliver 35 points for a driver and co-driver.
The WRC’s points structure was changed at the top of the 2024 season in an effort to avoid crews potentially cruising through the final day, saving their tires and cars for the powerstage, where five points for a stage win were on offer.
Instead of just offering bonus points across Sunday, a complicated system was implemented to give the crew sitting in P1 on Saturday night 18 points – but those points were contingent on the crew making the finish on Sunday. A further 12 bonus points (seven for a Super Sunday win and five for a powerstage win) are available through the final day.
A win on Sunday would be worth 25 points once more
A source close to last week’s meeting told DirtFish: “It’s impossible to ignore the frustration from many of the drivers and co-drivers following the change to the points structure for this season.
“What has been suggested here makes a lot of sense. The feeling that a rally win was devalued was something that couldn’t be ignored. What’s been proposed is sensible, straightforward and gives everybody a good reason to push hard through Sunday.
“There was some discussion of giving a point per stage [in the style of Junior WRC], but ultimately there’s a preference to still make a Sunday classification – which will still give drivers who retire on Friday or Saturday something else [apart from the powerstage] to play for.”
There’s no doubt the new system has been enormously unpopular, with eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier registering his dislike as early as April.
After winning in Croatia, the Frenchman told DirtFish: “It’s completely devaluing victory and devaluing good results. In France, we have a show called L’École des fans. It’s for kids. You give points to everybody, like always give them a 10 because you want to make them happy. That’s basically what happened in WRC.
“It’s unbelievably wrong. It’s really a pure joke.”
DirtFish understands ratification of the new system is likely to come at December’s World Motor Sport Council meeting in Rwanda.
