FIA Rally Director Yves Matton has made an interesting statement to DirtFish on the entry of new manufacturers to the World Rally Championship. As we all know, starting in 2022, the current WRCs will disappear, to make way for Rally1 and the new hybrid era.
In recent years, Citroën and Volkswagen have been the great dominators of the championship, with the names of Loeb and Ogier as the main protagonists. The French withdrew from the championship at the end of 2019, while the German firm left its post in 2017.
To date, WRC has been left with only two manufacturers with official support: Hyundai Motorsport and Toyota Gazoo Racing. The Korean firm is not clear about its continuity for the new stage and has not started working on the car. Of course, its continuity is planned. M-Sport, meanwhile, with partial support from Ford Europe, will also continue.
One of the key factors in the championship’s move into the hybrid era is attracting car brands. Matton has told the English media that he expects a new car manufacturer to join for the regulation change. Not in 2022, but for 2023.
Here are his words: “I think by the end of the next homologation cycle we could have one more manufacturer. COVID-19 is not helping us to try to do some pressure to try to convince some manufacturers to join“.
A total of twelve different brands have officially participated in a WRC program since its entry in 1997. Ford, with the Escort, and Subaru, with the Impreza, were the first. Citroën, Peugeot, Mini, Mitsubishi, Seat, Škoda, Subaru, Volkswagen, Suzuki and Toyota were also involved during all these years.
