Hyundai’s only option to continue its participation in the World Rally Championship in 2027 will be to field an upgraded Rally2 car, according to team principal Cyril Abiteboul.
The Korean marque’s future in the WRC beyond the end of the season has been unclear as it continues to weigh up its options regarding its factory motorsport programmes.
Hyundai has been among the most vocal about the WRC’s transition to new technical regulations for 2027, which are designed to be more affordable and flexible plus able to attract new manufacturers and teams. Now, Abiteboul has confirmed that developing a brand new car to those rules is out of the question.
However, there is another route open to Hyundai to remain involved in the championship by upgrading its Rally2 specification i20 N.
The new regulations will feature cars built to a €345,000 cost cap, delivering approximately 300 horsepower while utilising a space frame chassis and Rally2 componentry. It is anticipated that WRC27 cars will produce a similar performance compared to current Rally2 machinery.
To ensure the WRC’s top class is heavily populated in 2027 the new WRC27 spec cars will compete alongside Rally2 machinery in the top class, which again offers more flexibility to manufacturers and teams.
While Abiteboul is open to this option, Hyundai needs assurances from the FIA that Rally2 cars will be competitive against the new WRC27 models. At the moment, Toyota is the only current WRC manufacturer that is developing an all-new car for 2027.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team principal Hyundai World Rally Team, Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team
Photo by: Vincent Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport
“We have a Rally2 car and I believe it is not going to be a one make race in rally I hope, so therefore Rally2 existing cars will have a role,” Abiteboul told Autosport on the eve of the Central European Rally.
“But all these things are not clear, is it the same category, a different type of classification? How do we level performance between the new rally car and Rally2? All these questions are extremely open right now, but once we have clarity, we will be able to firm up our plans possibly with further evolution and development of our Rally2 car to make sure it can be competitive under this set of regulations.
“With a new spec technical regulation, this train is probably gone but making sure we have an up-to-date Rally2 specification for 2027 is still possible.
“We probably still have a couple of weeks to make that decision, but the urgency is to understand how the sport will be structured with these two sets of technical regulations. Will there be some form of BoP or Equivalency of Technology between the two cars and how it is done so we can fulfil the criteria both in terms of regulation and compliance and in terms of competitiveness?”
How the FIA plans to ensure a fair WRC27 v Rally2 battle
Responding to the concerns raised by Abiteboul regarding parity between the WRC27 and Rally2 cars, FIA technical director Xavier Mestelen Pinon reiterated that the two regulations will be able to work alongside each other with little differences between the two cars.
But the FIA is adamant that the WRC will not run a Balance of Performance system similar to that in World Endurance Championship.
“We are doing it well in WEC [World Endurance Championship] so it is easy to do it. In WEC we use power and weight, here we would use weight,” said Mestelen Pinon in a media round table.
“If we start to talk about Balance of Performance, it will kill our championship. We need [to] avoid that discussion. At the end the two regulations will allow each manufacturer to reach the same level of performance.
“We will speak about performance regarding downforce, weight to power ratio. We know there will be this kind of difference, but at the end we will refine the technical regulations so that both cars will be as close as possible this is our target.”
The FIA also plans to gather data from tests of the new WRC27 cars to conduct its own simulations to ensure both cars can be competitive. If investigations reveal that one car has a significant advantage over another, the FIA says the easiest way to close the performance gap will be to adjust the minimum weights of the cars before the start of the season.
“We do not want to make any adjustments after a few rallies,” Mestelen Pinon added. “We need to anticipate that. To be honest we are at the start [of our simulations]. As soon as we have [a] car on the track it will be easier to get some data and work based on that. If we need to make some adjustment it will only be for the minimum weight. The best way for us to manage it is weight.”
The FIA has stated that the final details of the WRC27 regulations will be confirmed by the end of the year having now successfully completed its safety tests of the vehicles.
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here
