The World Rally Championship looks set to change its points system again for 2025.
The FIA introduced a significant adjustment to the sporting regulations ahead of the 2024 season in an effort to improve the spectacle on the final day of WRC rounds.
A separate Sunday classification was created, awarding up to seven points to the quickest drivers across the final leg, while the reward for overall positions was reduced accordingly and linked instead to the standings at the end of Saturday.
While it is generally accepted that the overhaul has achieved its main aim of generating more action on Sundays, it has also faced significant backlash. Critics have included several of the championship’s leading drivers, who have argued that it devalues a rally win and is too confusing to follow.
DirtFish asked Robert Reid, FIA deputy president for sport, whether further changes to the system can be expected for 2025.
“I think there’s a couple of proposals going forward,” Reid said. “I don’t think we’ve got it massively wrong, but I think there’s a few tweaks that could be made.
“I mean, the talking point in the championship a year ago was how boring Sundays were. I think we’ve solved that problem, maybe sledgehammer-wise, but there’s no talk about boring Sundays anymore.”
While a straightforward return to the old points system appears to be unlikely, Reid could not be drawn on exactly how a revised structure might look.
“To be honest, I don’t know what the proposals are, but I think there are some stakeholders that want to take it way further in a certain direction. There are others that maybe were critical at the start that have now benefited and think, ‘well actually, was it that bad after all?’”
Any sporting regulations changes for the 2025 WRC will be ratified at October’s meeting of World Motor Sport Council.
“The technical working groups are now meeting every second week,” Reid explained. “Sporting regulation changes for next year will come October at World Council, because that’s an important stepping stone.
“If we can reduce the cost and sort the service park out in various bits there, and then December is when the ’27 regulations will be presented to the World Council. So at that point we’ve got something we can actually go and sell.”
