And it’s all down to one thing, it’s a simple thing, but it’s the kind of thing that makes those who clutch the strings to the coin purses at major companies run in horror - uncertainty.
When the current Rally1 rules were brought in at the start of 2022, the plan was they would coax a few more manufacturers in with simple hybrid regulations and less costly chassis based on spec parts. We started the Rally1 era with three manufacturers, which has since swelled to… three.
That has sent the world of rallying into crisis, after a couple of years of severe navel-gazing from the FIA and both drivers and organisers wondering why they can’t grow the sport in the way they want. First came the new points regulations for 2024, which absolutely no one understands, then a sudden revelation of a rules overhaul for 2025, aimed again at bringing more OEMs into the fold… again.
Except, this rules overhaul isn’t. It’s a set of wishes, hopes, almost dreams for how the WRC could lower its bar of entry. To get a few smaller-budget brands in, keep its current teams happy and perhaps increase the likelihood of Rally2 teams and privateers being able to step up to the top level.
That is fine in and of itself, but it’s not fine when it’s March of 2024 and all the teams have to go on for 2025 is a press release. Major manufacturers do not work this way. Budgets are not signed off the year before, but multiple years earlier.