The new technical regulations that will come into effect will radically change the nature of the championship. The current Rally1 cars will be replaced by cars that are technically much closer to today's Rally2 regulations. The aim of the new rules is to reduce costs, attract new manufacturers, and increase competition at the highest level of the championship. According to Toyota team principal Juha Kankkunen, this transition will not be smooth.
“"Things will get a little complicated until 2028"’
“I think we still have all the necessary arrangements in place. But next year will inevitably be a bit chaotic,” said Kankkunen.
Toyota is currently the only manufacturer developing an entirely new WRC27 car. However, Kankkunen believes the Japanese brand will not be immune to early-stage challenges.
“You could say nobody’s quite ready yet, so it’s going to be pretty chaotic. I think things will settle down a lot by 2028, but we’ll see. This reminds me a bit of those first years, from 1986 to 1987. It was a tremendous change,’ Kankkunen recalled.
Tracing the transition from Group B to Group A.
The 1987 season witnessed one of the biggest turning points in WRC history. The flashy Group B cars were replaced by Group A machines following serious safety concerns.
Henri Toivonen's fatal accident at the 1986 Corsica Rally accelerated this change, and the gap between the two generations of drivers was enormous.
“The power dropped from around 500 horsepower to about 250, and the vehicles became roughly 400 kilograms heavier,’ Kankkunen recalled.
The extent of the change was immediately apparent during testing before the opening race of the 1987 season, the Monte Carlo Rally.
“I still remember our first test with my cruising assistant Juha Piironen. We were testing on a snow-covered road for Monte Carlo. After the first kilometer, Juha told me, ‘Put the gas pedal all the way down.’ I told him my foot had been on the gas all the way from the beginning. That’s when you realize you just have to get used to it gradually,” Kankkunen said, laughing.
However, he believes that next year's transition will not be as dramatic as it was nearly forty years ago.
“The difference isn’t actually that big. Moving away from the Rally1 car isn’t as big a step as people think. Plus, a lot depends on the roads.”