Could the WRC be set for a manufacturer boom?

“I'm very confident that we're going to see soon a couple of them [manufacturers] announcing they are joining the WRC.”

Those are the exciting and encouraging words for rally fans delivered by the World Rally Championship’s new CEO Eric Boullier. 

Increasing the manufacturer involvement in the championship has been a hot topic for several years now. After Citroen decided to pull the plug on its WRC programme in 2019, rallying’s top level has effectively been represented by two full factory efforts in Toyota and Hyundai, plus M-Sport running a programme supported by Ford. This '2.5 factory team' model has long been seen as not adequate for a championship of WRC’s stature.

It had been hoped that the arrival of all-new Rally1 hybrid regulations in 2022 would attract more marques to the party, but what it achieved was keeping the status quo. Now the WRC is set for a new era on two levels, with new radical technical regulations next year and a new commercial rights holders and fresh investment from French automotive company Cosmobilis and private credit investor Park Square Capital, which acquired WRC Promoter GmbH in a move that has been described as the “biggest deal in the history of the championships” by the FIA.

The new owners, led by former Lotus and McLaren Formula 1 team boss Boullier, have outlined ambitious plans to take the WRC to the next level, putting fans at the heart of the sport and making rallying more exciting, accessible and engaging.  

From next year the WRC will welcome new technical regulations which aim to be more affordable; cost-capped €345,000 cars, built around a space-frame chassis, set to deliver a similar performance, and share some components with the current Rally2 cars.

Toyota is the only mainstream marque to commit to the rules alongside tuners Project Rally One and RMC Motorsport, but when speaking with Autosport, Boullier shared his belief that this trio could be joined by two more in the near future.

Boullier is confident more manufacturers will join the WRC's new era

Photo by: Tom Howard

“We have already started a few discussions with a lot of them [manufacturers],” Boullier told Autosport at Rally Paraguay after outlining the promoter’s vision for the future. “The first ones [manufacturers] we have obviously considered was the existing ones in WRC. There is no fair world. We will never make everybody happy, but we have addressed their concerns. They want a stable platform so we have a 10-year commitment with the FIA. They want the cost to be addressed. I believe, with the new formula, if you include everything, we have divided by at least two, the budget compared with now. 

“They [the manufacturers] want to be able to show off their technology. We have addressed this technically [from 2029], and that's why if we can bring WRC back to where it belongs in terms of popularity the platform will be super attractive. 

“We are a global platform like Formula 1, so we have 14, 15 rallies all over the world. We go in Africa, we go to Asia, we go everywhere, South America, and it's important to keep this global appeal because it's only Formula 1 and us. So we have addressed all their concerns. We will see, but I'm very confident that we're going to see soon a couple of them [manufacturers] announcing they are joining the WRC.”

It begs the question who could be these manufacturers set to announce programmes? It is already clear that M-Sport and Hyundai will continue in the championship next year fielding Rally2 cars to compete against the new WRC27 machinery. 

Lancia is still weighing up its options to develop an all-new car for 2029. The Italian marque made its return to the WRC this year in WRC2 and it appears likely it will continue next year

Ford has however been keeping a close eye on developments in the 2027 regulations and the WRC's promotion and new direction. As previously reported, it sent two senior management figures to Rally Finland to meet with the new promoter. In Paraguay there was strong speculation that the blue oval could be closing in on a comeback. The rumours only increased with new factory ‘Ford Racing’ logos appearing on driver overalls and team apparel that also featured the rebranded Safety Culture, now Mitti, logos. 

M-Sport driver Jon Armstrong was asked about the new Ford logo on his race suit saying: “There is no news to really say. Obviously Ford have been supporting in the background at some level. Going into next year we know we will have the Ford Fiesta plus kit but in the future let’s see. At the moment there is nothing to share but we will see.”

Team-mate Josh McErlean added: “I haven’t heard so much. I know there are talks but let’s see in the future. I know what’s going on with the Dakar programme that they are still in close talks. We will see what’s coming.”

Ford has made noises about committing to rallying, but nothing has been agreed yet

Photo by: M-Sport

Interestingly, in a recent interview with Top Gear, Ford CEO Jim Farley mentioned a desire to have more rally input in its road cars moving forward 

“We’re really excited about Dakar and Pikes Peak, we feel like what’s exciting about Ford in Europe is really our rally direction,” Farley said. “We want to democratise a rally car. We want everyone to be able to buy a car from Ford, and it's affordable, and it's rally. That to me is a huge turn on. I want everyone who buys a Ford in Europe to feel like they're a rally driver.”

While encouraged by the comments, M-Sport team principal Rich Millener suggested that this wasn’t directly an indication of an impending Ford factory WRC comeback: “It is always positive to read those comments. It is clearly worded about heritage and it is very good to see that they are tapping into the heritage and it shows they have a deep understanding of what rallying is to a brand image. To have any rally inspiration in road cars is a massive positive. It didn’t give any directions as to if it will be a Toyota GR Yaris style of car or just a road car with styling, but regardless, to see that is important and positive.

“We weren’t really aware that those comments were coming so it is nice to read, but I wouldn’t read too much into it.” 

Hyundai has been heavily developing effectively a new Rally2 i20 N this year to enable it to continue in the sport after being unable to commit to developing a brand new WRC27 car thus far. Whether it will be fully factory supported or privately run is yet to be determined, but Hyundai has assured Autosport there will be cars competing, and once all the sporting regulations are finalised it will deliver a proposal to its board to ultimately determine its longer-term future, with the FIA set to open up powertrains beyond the traditional internal combustion engine from 2029.

It is understood that Lancia is still weighing up its options to develop an all-new car for 2029. The Italian marque made its return to the WRC this year in WRC2 and it appears likely it's Ypilson HF Integrale Rally2 cars that lifted this year’s WRC2 teams’ title in Paraguay will continue next year.   

Then of course there is growing interest from Chinese manufacturers after the FIA confirmed three brands have joined the world motorsport governing body’s manufacturer committee. It is understood there is serious interest in building a WRC programme from at least one brand. Lynk & Co has already created a rally car for a national programme with its new 07 GT Rally car.

As Boullier’s comments suggest it is a 'watch this space' moment, but if his words are taken at face value the WRC could be set for real and long overdue boost.

Fresh manufacturer involvement in the WRC is overdue, so can its new bosses deliver?

Photo by: McKlein Photography / LAT Images via Getty Images