Hybrid is being removed from Rally1?

 The World Rally Championship has announced that it will drop hybrid units from Rally1 cars in 2025. As reported by Autosport earlier, the 130kW plug-in hybrid system that was first introduced in 2022 along with the current-generation Rally1 cars has been axed due to rising costs.

The company stipulated that all hybrid units will have to be stripped apart and sent back to its factory for full repair if they suffered three shock errors over 15G or one over 25G. Fia’s chief Technical and Safety Officer Xavier Mestelan-Pinon said that the current units supplies “are no longer in the best interest of the WRC”.

The matter was discussed between all stakeholders, with a decision taken ahead of next week’s finale in Japan.

To maintain the same power to weight ratio as 2024, the minimum weight of Rally1 cars will be lowered from 1260kg to 1180 kg. The air restrictor size has also been reduced from 36mm to 35mm. Although this was news for 2025, the thought took a lot more consideration and got finalized in late 2023.

The people that are most mad though, are their investors like Hyundai, who invested a lot into hybrid technology. But the reason assured it was all for the good, because there were many other reasons like if it was too expensive, participants wouldn’t want to come.

But besides that, many are still exited for the WRC! Its scheduled for January 25-28, and the following seasons also include cool events. The calendar spans until November, culminating with Rally Japan from November 21–24