The World Rally Championship will use a single supplier for fuel and energy supply for the electric element of Rally1 cars from 2022, with the FIA opening a tender for exclusive suppliers.
On Friday afternoon the FIA unveiled a new tender process, looking for a single supplier to provide the WRC service park with a single “sustainable fuel” with lowered CO2 emissions, to be used across multiple classes of the WRC ladder.
In addition to a single fuel supplier, the FIA is also looking for an exclusive supplier of sustainable energy to power the service park infrastructure, which will also be used to charge the hybrid element of the new-for-2022 Rally1 cars.
While the FIA is hoping to find a single supplier to cover both elements of fuel and energy supply, it has also indicated it is willing to split this across multiple companies as it plans to ban fossil fuels entirely from world championship service parks by the time the new suppliers are introduced – meaning no more diesel generators.
“Taking into consideration the rapidly changing landscape of the global energy sector and in particular sustainable and alternative fuels, the intention of the FIA and WRC Promoter is to use this opportunity to work with potential tenderers to demonstrate the wide range of options that are available in this field,” stated the FIA tender document.
“The FIA and WRC Promoter are open to exploring what relevant innovation is available in each individual area and then consider if there is an opportunity for a unified approach from one supplier (or consortium) to highlight the diversity of sustainable energy proposals relevant to these fields.”
The third pillar of the tender proposal is for the new ‘Official Energy Partner’ of the WRC to be branded on the plug-in hybrid charging stations that will come into use with the hybrid cars.
The outcome of the tender will be announced at the end of March 2021.
