THE FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP’S HYBRID FUTURE REMAINS ON TARGET FOR DELIVERY IN 2022 WITH FURTHER DETAILS OF THE CARS EXPECTED IN OCTOBER.
FIA rally director Yves Matton (above) said the timeline to the new regulations laid out earlier this season remains in place. The supplier of much of the equipment to be used in the 2022 specification cars will be revealed soon.
Matton said: “We made a study with the companies able to provide the kind of hybrid equipment we need. We have their feedback and now the manufacturers will receive a complete study to decide which kind of hybrid we will use. The formal decision will be made in October.
“We are following the plan. At the end of December we will have technical regulations fixed and announced at that month’s World Motor Sport Council meeting. We are 100 per cent following the timeline we introduced nine months ago.”
One of the concerns for the current teams is the need for additional in-season testing to prepare the cars through 2021. Matton said the FIA would address that.
He said: “We didn’t work on the sporting regulations yet. From what we did in the past, we will allow extra days to work on the car.”
Matton also confirmed his intention to maintain the current cost of the cars in an effort to bring new manufacturers to the sport.
“We are working to keep the cost of the car at the current level. With the manufacturers we are working to see what we can do with the cars and not to spend any money on engineering which is not giving back a return on investment in terms of marketing,” he said.
The next generation World Rally Cars will run with the same 1600cc turbocharged engines in use today.