World Rally Championship teams have expressed their thoughts regarding the possibility of a last-minute change to remove hybrid power from Rally1 cars for next season.
It appears there is a strong chance the FIA could decide to abandon hybrid power from the WRC’s top-flight class, in a move that has been triggered by a mid-season change to the hybrid unit user guide from control supplier Compact Dynamics.
This is the latest in a long-running saga over the 2025 WRC regulations. The FIA’s working group, formed to "evaluate and recommend the future direction of rallying", proposed to remove hybrid power as part of raft of changes for 2025 in February this year.
However, WRC teams pushed back against the changes, resulting in the current Rally1 regulations staying put for 2025 and 2026 in what was seen as a U-turn from the FIA.
As previously reported, Compact Dynamics’ new safety guidelines stipulate that if the 130kW hybrid unit suffers three shock errors over 15G or one over 25G, it has to be stripped apart and sent back to the supplier for a full repair that can take months to complete.
Teams believe the change brought in at the Acropolis Rally Greece in September will significantly raise hybrid unit repair costs, with one team arguing it would no longer be financially viable.
An FIA e-vote has since been held where teams have expressed their thoughts as to whether hybrid power should continue next year. A decision is yet to be made.
M-Sport-Ford team principal Richard Millener says the “extreme costs” now involved to run the hybrid units has made it no longer feasible for the Ford squad next year.
“I would still like it [hybrid] in terms of what it is about, and what we are trying to push in terms of a championship with hybrid technology is still important,” Millener told Autosport.
“But sadly, with the rules that we have regarding the safety of the units and how they have to be repaired after a shock, with extreme costs to repair them, and that's not feasible for us.
“It is not a request to remove it for what it is, it is a request to remove it because we can’t actually repair and run them at an economic price for M-Sport. We are talking a few extra million euro to do it and that is not something we can deal with.
“It is not good, that image [of constant rule changes] from the outside and I have said before we need to have a strong leadership and a strong image of where we are going and we are struggling with that and we need to improve it.
“People will skew the reason and I'm sure people will blame the teams and some people will blame the FIA, but the supplier is not able to give us the product in the way we need it to work for us.”
Toyota is hopeful a sensible solution can be found, but has questioned if hybrid power is still required moving forward.
“It's not an ideal situation for sure,” Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala told Autosport.
“We don’t want expenses to go higher and we want to keep things simple, and if it is getting too complicated, the question is 'do we really need them [hybrid units]?'
“Performance-wise, the cars are pretty good even without it. But it shouldn’t get too difficult for the teams and if there is a risk that teams cannot be in the World Rally Championship because they are running out of units, then it shouldn’t be that way.
“It is difficult as running these units and if they have an impact they need to be fixed and that takes time, so we need to find a sensible solution. At the end of the day if it is too difficult then it is easier to go without.”
Hyundai has been vocal in its support of hybrid power previously this year, but even its team principal Cyril Abiteboul admitted that if would accept a change if it helped ensure the future of its competitors in the WRC.
“My thoughts are that electrification is the direction that the world is taking,” Abiteboul told Autosport.
“We know that it's an ongoing trend and therefore we are still supportive of electrifying motorsport, electrifying WRC.
“We will never actively or proactively request to remove the hybrid from WRC. Having said that, we also need to be pragmatic and recognise the fact that the WRC community is a small community and as any small community, we need to look after one another.
“So if there is any steps that must be taken in order to guarantee participants and competitors at the events we will accept to take those steps.
“We don't want to be selfish. I don't think that anyone can afford to be selfish in the current situation of WRC.
“One thing we must have is a decision very quickly. We are in the process of ordering parts, not the hybrid themselves, because that's been done already since a while.
“If hybrid was to be removed, I think that's something we will want to know as quickly as possible to avoid the [un]necessary cost.”
