Compared to the World Rally Championship season that came before it, 2023 may feel rather stagnant given how much was changing this time 12 months ago.
The all-new hybrid Rally1 regulations stole the show as the WRC powered into a new electrified era this term, and that technology of course remains at the forefront of the championship this year too.
But don’t be lulled into believing nothing is new for 2023. Far from it.
From moves in the driver market to subtle regulations tweaks, here are the changes you need to be aware of for the new WRC season.
And not that we’re counting, but it all gets underway in under three weeks now…
Driver shuffles
None of the three manufacturer Rally1 teams are fielding the same lineup of drivers as they were in 2022.
Reigning world champion Toyota is the only squad not to bring in any new blood. Instead, the only change is Takamoto Katsuta stepping up to drive the third manufacturer entry on the rounds Sébastien Ogier is absent.
That role was previously fulfilled by Esapekka Lappi, but Lappi will contest all 13 rallies this season after moving across to Hyundai. There he will be joined by Hyundai returnee Craig Breen, who’ll share a third i20 with Dani Sordo.
Breen’s exit from M-Sport Ford freed up a spot to drive a Puma Rally1 which Ott Tänak has now made his, leaving Hyundai behind.
Pierre-Louis Loubet will also drive the whole season as a manufacturer driver for the first time, but Gus Greensmith has left the team he’s spent eight seasons with – his plans are yet to be made clear.
Adrien Fourmaux and Oliver Solberg both drove Rally1 cars last year but will regress to drive Ford Fiesta and Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 machines respectively.
Calendar tweaks
The expected 14-round calendar didn’t materialize so the number of stops on this year’s global tour remains the same as 2022, but the destinations are different.
The main change is two trips to the Americas – firstly for Rally México in March and then back across for Rally Chile in late September.
Central European Rally is the only brand-new rally in the championship and breaks new ground as the first ever tri-nation event in WRC history. Action begins in Czechia before legs in Austria and then Germany where the service park will permanently be based.
The returning México and Chile and addition of Central European Rally come at the cost of Ypres Rally Belgium and Rally Spain which both drop off the calendar, as does Rally New Zealand.
Class changes
There are no regulatory changes within any of the WRC’s categories for this year, but some of the classes have been renamed to, according to the FIA, “clarify the position and purpose of each of the categories”.
WRC2 and WRC3 Open will therefore just be called WRC2 and WRC3 in 2023, while WRC2 Junior has been renamed WRC2 Challenger, catering for drivers who have never won any Rally2 championship at WRC level and have never been nominated by a manufacturer to score WRC points.
WRC3 Junior has officially been renamed Junior WRC Championship – which is how it was marketed by M-Sport Poland which runs the series anyway – while there won’t be a teams’ title in 2023 like there was in 2022.
WRC2 Masters has also been modified to now be the Masters Cup, opening it up to drivers in Rally3, 4 or 5 and RGT cars as well as Rally2 machines. To comply, drivers must be aged 50 or over by January 1.
Reduction in testing
As explored in this article, testing regulations have changed for the 2023 WRC season.
Whereas before each manufacturer driver was permitted one test day for each European round of the championship, now each manufacturer will be granted just 21 days across the entire season with a maximum of seven per driver.
This represents a significant reduction in testing time but does offer greater flexibility, as teams are no longer locked into a formulaic format to their testing.
As before, all three of a manufacturer’s points-scoring drivers can each drive on a single nominated test day.
Tire warming zones (TWZs)
They won’t be compulsory, but each event organizer has the opportunity to add tire warming zones (TWZs) to their rally should they please.
Situated ahead of the start of a special stage as a designated area for drivers to warm their tires (and thus avoiding doing this on an open public highway), TWZs will begin after the time control and be at least 500m from the start of the stage.
However, there must be at least 100m between the ‘TWZ End’ board and the start of the stage.
The mandatory three-minute gap after check-in before stage-start time can be increased too, considering the length of the TWZ, to allow the crew sufficient time to warm their tires but also fulfill their usual pre-stage preparations.
No morning service on gravel rallies
In most, but not all, cases, there’ll be a morning service before the first full day of action on a WRC event. If there is an overnight regroup, a 15-minute service the following morning is mandatory.
But the regulations have been tweaked for 2023, making it no longer required to have this 15-minute service on gravel rallies.
Asphalt events still need to have this 15-minute service the morning after an overnight regroup as they did in 2022.
The time permitted in flexi-service (designed to allow teams to release cars from parc fermé in order to work on damaged cars outside of regular service intervals before checking them back into parc fermé to restart the rally) cannot exceed two hours for Rally1 cars either.
For all other cars, the operational window of flexi-servicing time is left to the discretion of the organizer but must be declared in the rally itinerary.
Mandatory shakedown for everyone
In 2022, the pre-event shakedown stage remained an option for those not driving a pukka Rally1 machine.
All P1 drivers were required to do a minimum of three passes of the stage, but no more than five, and that remains the same for this season.
But now all P2 (WRC2), P3 (WRC3) and P4 (Rally4 cars) drivers must complete a minimum of one passage of the stage too.
Tighter rally scheduling
One for the organizers amongst you.
The sporting regulations have been tightened for 2023 regarding the schedule and itinerary of a rally.
While last year it was stipulated that rallies just had to be over 2.5 days long, this year events must begin on Thursday with either a ceremonial start and/or (super) special stage(s) and have the final stage on Sunday as the powerstage.
All events in 2022 did, interestingly, comply with these regulations.
Stricter tire allowance
On all events of the 2023 WRC season, Rally1 drivers won’t be allowed to use any more than 28 tires over the course of the rally and shakedown, with all other classes restricted to 26 unless stated otherwise in a rally’s supplementary regulations after consultation with the FIA and the tire suppliers.
That represents a subtle but nonetheless important change over 2022 where instead the maximum quantity of tires permitted was calculated via a ratio of four tires every permitted tire change (either service or a tire fitting zone). More often than not that did equate to 28 for Rally1.
However last year Rally1 drivers were afforded an extra four tires for shakedown which will no longer be the case.
More defined HEV zones
HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) zones were a new addition to the WRC last year thanks to the installation of 100kW hybrid units in the leading cars.
These zones mandated that each Rally1 car drive in electric-mode only until they were clear of it.
For 2023, an extra stipulation has been added meaning that “each HEV must be positioned 10km (6.2 miles) or more from the end of a special stage to allow re-generation in normal driving conditions”.
