Sunday driving will be a thing of the past following the FIA’s changes to the points structure of the World Rally Championship.
The sport’s governing body has confirmed a split points system between the first two days of a rally and the final day, starting from next month’s Monte Carlo Rally.
First place in the overall classification on Saturday night will bring 18 points, with 15 on offer for second place, third merits 13 points, with reward running down to a single point for 10th place.
Sunday brings another point-scoring opportunity with the fastest driver on the final day taking an additional seven points. For that final day, however, the points go from first to seventh, with seventh taking a single point.
The 2024 sporting regulations state: “For the World Rally Championships for Manufacturers, for Drivers and for Co-Drivers, additional points will be awarded according to an accumulated general classification of Sunday only, comprising the part from the first time control after the overnight regroup up to and including the final time control of the competition element of the rally (with all time penalties accrued in this part of the competition).”
That change makes a successful final day worth a potential 12 points, with fastest time on the power stage still meriting a bonus of five.
The perfect rally with a Friday-Saturday, Sunday and power stage win will still total 30 points.
World Motor Sport Council discussed the potential for change at its Baku meeting earlier this month, with the WMSC Task Force ratifying both this change and the option for Rally1 cars to run without a hybrid system.
Non-hybrid Rally1 cars is something M-Sport, among others, has been pushing for in an effort to see the sport’s premier class cars being used by more private drivers.
There’s agreement in the series that running without the electric boost will help bridge an increasingly big gap between Rally1 and Rally2 categories.
