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2025 World Rally Championship
53rd running of the World Rally Championship From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2025 FIA World Rally Championship is the fifty-third occurrence of the World Rally Championship, an international rallying series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and WRC Promoter GmbH. Teams and crews compete for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews are free to compete in cars complying with Groups Rally1 to Rally5 regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with Rally1 cars are eligible to score points in the manufacturers' championship. The championship began in January 2025 with the Monte Carlo Rally and is set to conclude in November 2025 with the calendar newcomer Rally Saudi Arabia. The series is supported by the WRC2 and WRC3 categories at every round of the championship and by Junior WRC at selected events.
Elfyn Evans is the current drivers' championship leader.
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Scott Martin is the current co-drivers' championship leader.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT (GR Yaris Rally1 pictured) is the current manufacturers' championship leader.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe are the reigning drivers' and co-drivers' champions, having secured their first championship titles at the 2024 Rally Japan. Toyota are the defending manufacturers' champions.
With five rounds to go, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin respectively lead the drivers' and co-drivers' championship over Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen by three points. Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais are third, a further ten points behind. In the manufacturers' championship, the reigning manufacturers' champions Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT hold an eighty-seven-point lead over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, with M-Sport Ford WRT in third.
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Calendar
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A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2025 championship. Event headquarters are marked with black dots.
The 2025 season is scheduled to be contested over fourteen rounds across Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.
Calendar changes
The calendar was expanded to fourteen rounds, including five flyaway events.[15] This was originally planned for the 2024 season,[16] but WRC Promoter GmbH retained the total of thirteen events in the hopes of attracting more Rally1 entries.[17]
- Rally Estonia is set to return to the championship after missing the 2024 season.[18] The event is due to replace Rally Latvia on the calendar.[19]
- Rally Islas Canarias is due to be promoted from the European Rally Championship and become a World Championship event under a two-year deal.[20] The event is planned to be run on tarmac roads.[21]
- Rally Saudi Arabia is due to join the championship in 2025 as their organisers signed a ten-year contract with WRC Promoter GmbH.[22] The rally is planned to be based in Jeddah, and be run as the season finale.[23]
- Rally del Paraguay is set to become a WRC event from 2025 after signing a multi-year deal, making Paraguay the thirty-eighth nation to host a WRC championship round.[24]
- The Croatia Rally will not be featured on the calendar for the first time since the event joined the championship in 2021.[25] However, the event is set to return in 2026.[26]
- Rally Poland will also be removed from the calendar after making a one-year return to the championship in 2024.[27]
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Entries
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The following manufacturers are set to contest the championship under Rally1 regulations.[28]
The following crews entered in Rally1 cars as privateers or under arrangement with the manufacturers.
In detail
M-Sport retained the crew of Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka for another complete season.[39] They are set to be joined by Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy as the team's second full-time crew.[40] The deal was done as a collaboration with Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy.[41] The crew of Mārtiņš Sesks and Renārs Francis is set to compete on a part-time basis with the team starting with Rally Sweden.[42]
Hyundai team chief Cyril Abiteboul confirmed that Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja will continue driving for their team in 2025.[43] Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe extended their contract for one year with the team.[44] Having won the title in 2024, Neuville is set to compete with the number 1.[45] Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria moved from M-Sport to drive a third car full season.[46]
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Toyota retained the crew of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen, who are due to return full-time after they contested a partial season in 2024.[47] They are set to join the crew of Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin and of Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston as the team's full-time competitors.[48] Newly-crowned WRC2 champion Sami Pajari, who ran selected races with the team in 2024, was signed with a full-time programme with the team.[49] However, he would be joined with new co-driver Marko Salminen,[50] following the departure of Enni Mälkönen at the end of last season.[51] Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais would continue to run a partial season with the team.[52]
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Regulation changes
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Technical regulations
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South Korean tyre manufacturer Hankook will become the official tyre supplier of the championship, providing tyres to all entrants of four wheel drive cars.[53] The company replaces Pirelli, who supplied tyres to the championship between 2021 and 2024.[54] Under the terms of the agreement, Hankook will supply tyres until the end of the 2027 championship.[55]
Rally1 cars will no longer use the hybrid system introduced in 2022, and subsequently the minimum weight of the cars and the width of the air intake will be reduced to compensate for the change so that cars maintain the same power-to-weight ratio that they had when using the hybrid system.[56] The decision was made when teams expressed concerns about the increasing costs of repairing the hybrid system.[57]
Sporting regulations
The points distribution system will be revised for the second consecutive season following widespread criticism of the 2024 point system.[58] Points will be awarded based on the general top ten classification at the end of the rally in a scale of 25–17–15–12–10–8–6–4–2–1, with additional points awarded to the five fastest crews on Sunday and the five fastest crews in the Power Stage.[59] Saturday points will be dropped.[60]
Season report
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Opening rounds
The opening round of the 2025 championship saw Ogier and Landais overcame changeable conditions and crowned winners.[61] The victory also pushed Ogier's Monte winning number into double-digit — a total of ten wins.[62] Teammates Evans and Martin won the following round, opening a twenty-eight-point lead in the championship race.[63] That lead was further extended to thirty-six points when they won in Safari.[64] Katsuta and Johnston were running as high as second during the event, but they rolled their Yaris at the final Power Stage, demoting them to fifth overall.[65] Despite they managed to finish the rally, they failed to make the car back to service park and therefore recording as retirement.[66] Toyota further extended their season-winning strike at the calendar newcomer Grand Canary Island, dominating the rally by finishing 1–2–3–4.[67] Rovanperä and Halttunen were the overall winners, having won fifteen out of eighteen special stages.[68]
Mid-season gravel events
Heading into the gravel events, Toyota further extended their winning strike in Portugal, with Ogier and Landais winning their seventh win at the rally,[69] though they were benefited from the power steering failure from the i20 of Tänak and Järveoja.[70] They also conquered the Sardegna island for the fifth time weeks later, making Ogier the most successful driver of the event.[71] Tänak and Järveoja have ended their — and Hyundai's victory drought by winning the following weekend in Greece.[72] Solberg and Edmondson returned to the Rally1 category at Estonia after they were dropped by Hyundai in 2022.[73] They stunned the service park by taking their maiden rally victory.[74] The following round in Finland saw Toyota completed a 1–2–3–4–5 finish for the very first time, with Rovanperä and Halttunen won their home rally for the very time.[75] The win also promoted them to second in the championships, only three points adrift the lead.[76]
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Results and standings
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Season summary
Scoring system
Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event.[95] In the manufacturers' championship, teams are eligible to nominate three crews to score points, but these points are only awarded to the top two classified finishers representing a manufacturer and driving a 2025-specification Rally1 car. There are also five bonus points awarded to the winners in an accumulated standings across all Sunday stages, four points for second place, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. The same points scale will be awarded to the five fastest crews of the Power Stage as well.[96]
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers
The driver who recorded a points-scoring classification would be taken into account for the championship regardless of the categories.
FIA World Rally Championship for Co-Drivers
The co-driver who recorded a points-scoring classification would be taken into account for the championship regardless of the categories.
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers
Only the best two results of each manufacturer in the respective overall classification by the end of Saturday, accumulated position of all Sunday stages and Power Stage at each rally were taken into account for the championship.
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Notes
- The Monte Carlo Rally is run on a tarmac and snow surface.
References
External links
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