As the World Rally Championship edges closer towards a future without hybrid, world champion elect Thierry Neuville has explained why he would prefer it stayed.
Hybrid has been a part of the WRC since 2022 when the Rally1 era was born, with units provided by common supplier Compact Dynamics.
It is however understood that stakeholders are in favor of ditching hybrid for next season, although official confirmation will be ratified at the next FIA World Motorsport Council meeting on December 11.
Removing hybrid would significantly reduce the cost of running a Rally1 car. M-Sport has run a non-hybrid version of its Puma Rally1 three times this season – twice for Mārtiņš Sesks (in Poland and Chile) and also for Jourdan Serderidis at the recent Central European Rally.
Serderidis drove the non-hybrid Puma Rally1 at last month's CER
Each of the three competing teams have already expressed their opinion to DirtFish, as has Sébastien Ogier who outlined his desire for hybrid to remain part of the championship.
His rival Neuville holds the same opinion, albeit for different reasons. The Belgian is worried that Rally1 cars would become technically too simple if the hybrid element were to be removed.
“I enjoy driving with the hybrid because obviously more power, more fun,” Neuville told DirtFish at CER. “So that’s for sure.
“However, I understood that there are some troubles for several teams on the hybrid units available and so on. So I don’t know if it’s the solution to drop them. But yeah, it’s not up to us to decide.
“I would like to carry on because I like that additional fact of technology. Already the cars are very basic now. So if we remove the hybrid, they are pretty much very simple.”
But what do the other drivers think?
Ott Tänak
Tänak is intrigued what the outcome for 2025 will be
Not one to talk more than he has to, Ott Tänak’s answer was typically brief.
“I mean, yeah, there’s been plenty of talks already for a long, long time, to be honest,” he told DirtFish.
“And yeah, it’s been a bit of on and off. So let’s see what the final call will be. But I mean, yeah, it all depends on the terms.”
Elfyn Evans
Similar to Tänak, Elfyn Evans isn’t a big talker but is not shy to express an opinion over topics he is passionate about.
He is, however, indifferent over the future of hybrid – but would like to see increased reliability if it is to stay.
“It doesn’t make a huge difference to me [if we keep hybrid or not],” Evans told DirtFish.
Evans will get in and drive whatever he's given - whether that's a hybrid or non-hybrid car
“You know from a driver point of view, we get in it and drive. But obviously if it’s the case like in CER where a little shock is putting the system off, then I don’t see that’s fair for everybody either.
“So we at least need to arrive back in a situation where it’s not that sensitive and it’s reliable if we’re going to keep it.”
Takamoto Katsuta
Evans’ Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta was one of those drivers to encounter a disabled unit after the ‘shock’ Evans described over a jump at CER.
“To be honest, for me, long time I didn’t have an issue [with hybrid],” Katsuta told DirtFish.
“I don’t know last time when it happened for me, but it’s quite strange because in the last few events nobody had this issue and then this time it suddenly happened. So yeah, for sure they need to find out what is happening.”
Katsuta feels drivers should be able to reset the hybrid units
Katsuta would still advocate keeping hybrid, but under the proviso drivers can reset the system themselves without the need for engineer assistance.
“But for me, nowadays as long as hybrid is working, it feels good,” he continued. “The only thing is that we cannot reset ourselves. That’s a problem. Because if you’re losing hybrid in the beginning of the day or something, then all day you’re basically losing a lot of time.
“So if we continue with hybrid, we need to find somehow, like, a reset, or each stage is between, or whatever, like, some Compact Dynamics engineer to be ready for reset or kind of check on the data if something happened.
“I don’t know, but I’m getting used to this hybrid feeling. It’s a shame if we’re losing 100 horsepower! So yeah, like 50-50 for me.”
Adrien Fourmaux
Fourmaux feels "now is not the time to go backwards" in terms of technology
M-Sport’s lead driver, Adrien Fourmaux, is another to pledge his allegiance to the ‘for hybrid’ camp.
“For me, we need to keep the hybrid,” he told DirtFish.
But he also highlighted the same proviso as Katsuta.
“I think everybody fought for that for a long time, so now it’s not the time to go backwards. Just I think we need to come back to where it was before so we can reset the unit and carry on.”
