If these changes in the upcoming regulations were to remain true however, a surprise brand I would love to see is Mitsubishi... Though ideally with the Eclipse Cross turned into a hybrid 3 cylinder Rally1 menace for their own marketing gains, wouldn't matter to me if they're slow with the car as long as Mitsubishi and Subaru were to compete side by side in the WRC once more!
Interesting call. I see Lancia, but not based on spaceframe. Anyway, Peugeot is in WEC, Citroen in Rally2, Opel in Rally4, DS in FormulaE, I think as well Stellantis should be in WRC proper and for Lancia to compete Citroen and Opel makes little sense. So is either Citroen, Opel or Lancia moving up? Indeed the Jeep Avenger could be a base, too. But Stellantis serves several forms of motorsport and given that Peugeot is busy coming last in WEC, they still have 3 more brands with big WRC heritage. Another thought of mine is Mitsubishi or Nissan. Both have huge WRC heritage and leave Renault to join forces on their own.
I think obvious missed 1 is Mitsubishi. Also, I don’t think VW group would be worried about 2 of their brands competing, they were willing to let Audi & Porsche do it in F1, which didn’t work out, either of those brands joining Skoda would mean better chance of a champion.
This video is a wet dream for every rally fan. In the beginning of the 2024 season I made a list of all the manufaturers who could join wrc with their hatchback models. Counted about 20 companies that can join wrc with a hatchback
Other suggestions would be Renault/Alpine based on the success of their Rally3 and R-GT cars, Nissan after they made an awesome safari tribute of the current gen Z-Car, Porsche because of the 911 Dakar and their semi-official return to rally-raid, and Peugeot solely for how iconic they are
Brilliant! I saw you more as a channel for circuit racing… At long last someone who pronounces Skoda correct! For some trivia, the name should be wrong full stop as the car maker from Mlada Boleslav is L&K or Laurin&Klement. They were owned for many years by Skoda Plsen, who do lokomotives and busses. When VW bought the car devision from Skoda Plsen they somehow kept the name, which seems weird since Skoda lokomitives and busses still exists today and is in no way connected to the car maker from Mlada Boleslav any more. 6:18 the pronunciatioun of Lancia is like your 2nd or 3rd attempt. The way the English call them is wrong. It is more like “Lanshia” with a rather silent “i”. Good call on who should come. But for some reason I sound more negative: - Subaru. I do not see that since they are allied with Toyota and a potential Rally1 base would be similar to the Yaris. - Skoda I don’t see either. They are a master example why Rally1 spaceframe is wrong. How many Rally2 Skodas weere sold? 600? 700? Great business model with a true road car relation, great marketing and they operate at a profit. How many Rally1 cars were sold? 2? Skoda sold 300 times more Rally2 cars than Rally1 cars were sold over all 3 manufacturers! Why would they even remotely want to change that? - Citroen and Lancia: If one comes, it would be only one of them as they both belong to Stellantis. And here Lancia is more likely. I would dearly love to see that. And there were words if the business model is right, and Lancia can start making profit itself, it may happen. But between all these lines I see Lancia interested in a Rally2 based on the Citroen C3, and when they can develop that Rally2 into a Rally1, they may well come. Now, I am super happy that for their future Rally1 WRC is looking at Rally2. But I fear they do it exactly the wrong way round. Remember Rally2 makes were worried a Rally2 based Rally1 could destroy the budget of Rally2. Well, for a start Spaceframe means a future Rally1 Lancia cannot be based on a Rally2 car. But then Rally1 uses Rally2 based engines and transmissions, and that is the feared danger to Rally2 budgets. The FIA should have done it exactly the other way round, bin the spaceframe but have the engines different. Then I could see Lancia coming. With the proposition now, we have to be careful not to spoil Rally2 while spaceframe (as even Neuville recently said) will keep the cars too remote from road car reality, too remote from the Rally2 base, and make it unattractive for brands to join, as is the case already.
One more remark, one I could see coming: What is the news of Nissan and Mitsubishi joining forces with Honda? Is that Nissan and Mitsubishi leaving Renault? If so, I could see one of them coming! Renault is too deep into pure EVs, Honda is more into fossil-free fuels or hydrogen combustion, Nissan and Mitsubishi need a new market position and both have a great WRC history.
Bro, I just hope Hyundai will not leave after 2025, regardless of whether a new manufacturer joins the championship. Anyway, great video! I hope you’ll keep making more WRC content.
I legit think that unironic small SUVs could save the WRC (not the Puma, actual SUVs like an Audi Q3) All sorts of brands wanna show that their AWD cars can be sporty... and those cars are SUV-shaped, they're not sedans or hatchbacks. I don't think many minded when many coupes invaded the WRC (911, Stratos, 037, etc), I don't think many cried when hatchbacks got their way (205, Metro, Delta, 323F, etc), I don't think many complained when it was time for the 3-volumes (Celica, Impreza, Lancer, etc)... so why not go for SUVs? I'm NOT a fan of SUVs but I understand the whole "racing meets marketing" and how all sorts of manufacturers have AWD SUVs that they wanna make look sporty, dynamic and whatnot. I'd limit engine performance BUT give freedom of engine type so manufacturers don't need to develop superspecific engines if they don't want. You know, like max power is 350hp and whatever max torque BUT you can achieve this with whatever block you want.
Peugeot over Citroen any day of the week.... Citroen is noteworthy only because Sebastian Loeb is an alien that can drive anything at the speed of light without ever making a mistake... Peugeot has a multitude of iconic rally cars... the most legendary is the Peugeot 205 T16 Group B rally car, then we have the Peugeot 106 Rallye front wheel drive and the Peugeot 205 front wheel drive... and finally the iconic Peugeot 206 4WD from the early 2000s (the cute little mouse that was competing against the monsters of Subaru). Also, other brands WRC should focus on making them return are Mistubishi (which yes isn't a huge car manufacturer but it's a GIGANTIC company as Mitsubishi Zaibatsu's main thing is building top of the line high tech commercial vessels for trading which by many are hailed as the best in the world) and I would also try to convince Alpine (Renault) to join as the old Alpine rally car from the 70s is easily one of the 5 most legendary rally cars of all time and for 5-6 years in the late 70s if was winning pretty much everything... sure, not a huge history there but one legendary car can indeed make you worthy... What the goal of WRC should be in my opinion would be to trash the Rally 2 category and have 7-10 manufacturers in one absolutely massive Rally 1 category battling it out with around 30 drivers being Rally 1 drivers now and turn what is now Rally3 or Junior WRC become Rally 2 or still Junior WRC to produce talents for the big category... Rally 2 is redundant as if they turn down the costs to 350k for a car then Rally 2 would be what? The same as Rally 1 cars? Anyway... that's my opinion... and with the lower costs Toyota or Huyndai won't be able to produce a monstrosity that almost never loses... cars will be very close to one another and we'll go back to the era of the skill of the driver which is really refreshing as nobody gives a shit when Max Verstappen for example wins another world championship because his car is clearly the fastest... who the fuck cares anyway? Only new fans of the sport that don't understand motorsports and are just there for the hype... It will also be fascinating to see how many will focus a bit more on the engine and how many will focus massively on Aero while deciding to lose some torque and speed because of it... Rallying will become INTERESTING again...
This might be a long shot but as Audi is joining F1 in 2026 they might breach into WEC and then WRC as audi last competed in WEC in 2016 and WRC in 1986. They have also left Rallycross after a short but good time. The two Things Audi have going on are some random touring cars and F1. It looks like Audi really wants to join F1 as they will buy 100% of the Sauber team. it might be a long shot but audi could in the next 10-20 years be in multiple motosports again including WRC.
Audi is a really shit brand lately... not expecting anything from them... they have horrible customer service, their cars have really dwindled in build quality, they completely let go of the GT3 project as soon as they started losing and decided to go into F1... I may hate Mercedes for being absolute scumbags that would pay off everyone just to win any day of the week but at least they have some balls... they're losing in F1 now but they don't give up and say they'll leave... they're losing big time in GT3 races and their car isn't able to compete with the newer ones of the category but they're still going and supporting their brand... Just wait for it... Audi will join the F1, it will suck for a few years and leave... they're absolutely horrible... Audi is the classic wannabe luxury brand that they think their cars should be treated as marvels of ingenuity when in reality they're mediocre and a step back from Mercedes and BMW as a brand and well, compared to the most legendary manufacturers like Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini? Yeah... compared to those brands they're not even noteworthy... I remember them comparing their Audi R8 to a Ferrari and I was laughing... sure, you have the specs to kinda compare, but you're a nobody... it's like a rookie saying he's the same as Michael Jordan... everybody will hear you and just tell you to shut up... Anyway, don't expect much from Audi... they're dogshit as a company...
As much as I'd love to see Lancia coming back to the rally scene, I don't see it happening for one simple reason, Stellantis. This compagny is so weak, their sells low, their reputation is getting miserable: thanks 1.2l puretech, they are not looking for having a good image in motorsports except for the 9X8 than doesn't achieve a lot unfortunately and propose zero credible road legal sportscar in Europe. All they can do are 3008, Mokka and Fiat 500e, not bad cars but a bit boring. Considering all of that having a revival of the Fulvia like they almost did in the early 2000s or really any flagship model would benefit Lancia and Stellantis a lot so I hope they give it a shot!
subaru are owned by toyota, it will never happen even if toyota leaves for f1. vw is in dire straights financially tbh. stellantis is gonna kill or sell lancia before they can get anywhere. citroen are well... that fell apart spectacularly... you are far more optimistic than i am
I hope that at least one of these return
I think that Subaru is actually behind these new regulations. They want to join, but the current regulations were too awful
Yes, for wrc survival they need to do something, the regulation that both win² situation for manufacture and wrc fia regulation.
If these changes in the upcoming regulations were to remain true however, a surprise brand I would love to see is Mitsubishi...
Though ideally with the Eclipse Cross turned into a hybrid 3 cylinder Rally1 menace for their own marketing gains, wouldn't matter to me if they're slow with the car as long as Mitsubishi and Subaru were to compete side by side in the WRC once more!
Stelantis needs to put 1 brand in WRC
Weather is
Lancia,Citroen,Peugeot, opel or even Jeep
Interesting call. I see Lancia, but not based on spaceframe. Anyway, Peugeot is in WEC, Citroen in Rally2, Opel in Rally4, DS in FormulaE, I think as well Stellantis should be in WRC proper and for Lancia to compete Citroen and Opel makes little sense. So is either Citroen, Opel or Lancia moving up? Indeed the Jeep Avenger could be a base, too. But Stellantis serves several forms of motorsport and given that Peugeot is busy coming last in WEC, they still have 3 more brands with big WRC heritage.
Another thought of mine is Mitsubishi or Nissan. Both have huge WRC heritage and leave Renault to join forces on their own.
Lancia I am begging on my knees
I think obvious missed 1 is Mitsubishi. Also, I don’t think VW group would be worried about 2 of their brands competing, they were willing to let Audi & Porsche do it in F1, which didn’t work out, either of those brands joining Skoda would mean better chance of a champion.
Lancia are already planning a return with the Ypsilon. The CEO has already been seen driving the rally car
Yes, but at the cost of Citroen. Both are Stellantis, so they didnt want them to compete against each other.
This video is a wet dream for every rally fan. In the beginning of the 2024 season I made a list of all the manufaturers who could join wrc with their hatchback models. Counted about 20 companies that can join wrc with a hatchback
100%
Other suggestions would be Renault/Alpine based on the success of their Rally3 and R-GT cars, Nissan after they made an awesome safari tribute of the current gen Z-Car, Porsche because of the 911 Dakar and their semi-official return to rally-raid, and Peugeot solely for how iconic they are
Brilliant! I saw you more as a channel for circuit racing…
At long last someone who pronounces Skoda correct! For some trivia, the name should be wrong full stop as the car maker from Mlada Boleslav is L&K or Laurin&Klement. They were owned for many years by Skoda Plsen, who do lokomotives and busses. When VW bought the car devision from Skoda Plsen they somehow kept the name, which seems weird since Skoda lokomitives and busses still exists today and is in no way connected to the car maker from Mlada Boleslav any more.
6:18 the pronunciatioun of Lancia is like your 2nd or 3rd attempt. The way the English call them is wrong. It is more like “Lanshia” with a rather silent “i”.
Good call on who should come. But for some reason I sound more negative:
- Subaru. I do not see that since they are allied with Toyota and a potential Rally1 base would be similar to the Yaris.
- Skoda I don’t see either. They are a master example why Rally1 spaceframe is wrong. How many Rally2 Skodas weere sold? 600? 700? Great business model with a true road car relation, great marketing and they operate at a profit. How many Rally1 cars were sold? 2? Skoda sold 300 times more Rally2 cars than Rally1 cars were sold over all 3 manufacturers! Why would they even remotely want to change that?
- Citroen and Lancia: If one comes, it would be only one of them as they both belong to Stellantis. And here Lancia is more likely. I would dearly love to see that. And there were words if the business model is right, and Lancia can start making profit itself, it may happen. But between all these lines I see Lancia interested in a Rally2 based on the Citroen C3, and when they can develop that Rally2 into a Rally1, they may well come.
Now, I am super happy that for their future Rally1 WRC is looking at Rally2. But I fear they do it exactly the wrong way round. Remember Rally2 makes were worried a Rally2 based Rally1 could destroy the budget of Rally2.
Well, for a start Spaceframe means a future Rally1 Lancia cannot be based on a Rally2 car. But then Rally1 uses Rally2 based engines and transmissions, and that is the feared danger to Rally2 budgets. The FIA should have done it exactly the other way round, bin the spaceframe but have the engines different. Then I could see Lancia coming. With the proposition now, we have to be careful not to spoil Rally2 while spaceframe (as even Neuville recently said) will keep the cars too remote from road car reality, too remote from the Rally2 base, and make it unattractive for brands to join, as is the case already.
One more remark, one I could see coming: What is the news of Nissan and Mitsubishi joining forces with Honda? Is that Nissan and Mitsubishi leaving Renault? If so, I could see one of them coming! Renault is too deep into pure EVs, Honda is more into fossil-free fuels or hydrogen combustion, Nissan and Mitsubishi need a new market position and both have a great WRC history.
Bro, I just hope Hyundai will not leave after 2025, regardless of whether a new manufacturer joins the championship. Anyway, great video! I hope you’ll keep making more WRC content.
Unfortunately with the news, about Louriaux leaving the team as well, it seems more and more likely to be the case.
subaru, lancia, or audi seem likely
Only Skoda seem likely
All i need is Brazil rally in WRC
it would be interesting to see an audi perhaps in the wrc
As a czech guy i need to see škoda in wrc
I legit think that unironic small SUVs could save the WRC (not the Puma, actual SUVs like an Audi Q3)
All sorts of brands wanna show that their AWD cars can be sporty... and those cars are SUV-shaped, they're not sedans or hatchbacks. I don't think many minded when many coupes invaded the WRC (911, Stratos, 037, etc), I don't think many cried when hatchbacks got their way (205, Metro, Delta, 323F, etc), I don't think many complained when it was time for the 3-volumes (Celica, Impreza, Lancer, etc)... so why not go for SUVs?
I'm NOT a fan of SUVs but I understand the whole "racing meets marketing" and how all sorts of manufacturers have AWD SUVs that they wanna make look sporty, dynamic and whatnot. I'd limit engine performance BUT give freedom of engine type so manufacturers don't need to develop superspecific engines if they don't want. You know, like max power is 350hp and whatever max torque BUT you can achieve this with whatever block you want.
Peugeot over Citroen any day of the week.... Citroen is noteworthy only because Sebastian Loeb is an alien that can drive anything at the speed of light without ever making a mistake... Peugeot has a multitude of iconic rally cars... the most legendary is the Peugeot 205 T16 Group B rally car, then we have the Peugeot 106 Rallye front wheel drive and the Peugeot 205 front wheel drive... and finally the iconic Peugeot 206 4WD from the early 2000s (the cute little mouse that was competing against the monsters of Subaru).
Also, other brands WRC should focus on making them return are Mistubishi (which yes isn't a huge car manufacturer but it's a GIGANTIC company as Mitsubishi Zaibatsu's main thing is building top of the line high tech commercial vessels for trading which by many are hailed as the best in the world) and I would also try to convince Alpine (Renault) to join as the old Alpine rally car from the 70s is easily one of the 5 most legendary rally cars of all time and for 5-6 years in the late 70s if was winning pretty much everything... sure, not a huge history there but one legendary car can indeed make you worthy...
What the goal of WRC should be in my opinion would be to trash the Rally 2 category and have 7-10 manufacturers in one absolutely massive Rally 1 category battling it out with around 30 drivers being Rally 1 drivers now and turn what is now Rally3 or Junior WRC become Rally 2 or still Junior WRC to produce talents for the big category... Rally 2 is redundant as if they turn down the costs to 350k for a car then Rally 2 would be what? The same as Rally 1 cars?
Anyway... that's my opinion... and with the lower costs Toyota or Huyndai won't be able to produce a monstrosity that almost never loses... cars will be very close to one another and we'll go back to the era of the skill of the driver which is really refreshing as nobody gives a shit when Max Verstappen for example wins another world championship because his car is clearly the fastest... who the fuck cares anyway? Only new fans of the sport that don't understand motorsports and are just there for the hype...
It will also be fascinating to see how many will focus a bit more on the engine and how many will focus massively on Aero while deciding to lose some torque and speed because of it...
Rallying will become INTERESTING again...
405 would have raced in Group B after 205. 408 would be cool.
I like to see audi back😢
This might be a long shot but as Audi is joining F1 in 2026 they might breach into WEC and then WRC as audi last competed in WEC in 2016 and WRC in 1986. They have also left Rallycross after a short but good time. The two Things Audi have going on are some random touring cars and F1. It looks like Audi really wants to join F1 as they will buy 100% of the Sauber team. it might be a long shot but audi could in the next 10-20 years be in multiple motosports again including WRC.
I would say it's unlikely because of the costs. Just like Toyota did in the late 90's, they left WRC to focus on F1
Audi is a really shit brand lately... not expecting anything from them... they have horrible customer service, their cars have really dwindled in build quality, they completely let go of the GT3 project as soon as they started losing and decided to go into F1... I may hate Mercedes for being absolute scumbags that would pay off everyone just to win any day of the week but at least they have some balls... they're losing in F1 now but they don't give up and say they'll leave... they're losing big time in GT3 races and their car isn't able to compete with the newer ones of the category but they're still going and supporting their brand...
Just wait for it... Audi will join the F1, it will suck for a few years and leave... they're absolutely horrible... Audi is the classic wannabe luxury brand that they think their cars should be treated as marvels of ingenuity when in reality they're mediocre and a step back from Mercedes and BMW as a brand and well, compared to the most legendary manufacturers like Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini? Yeah... compared to those brands they're not even noteworthy... I remember them comparing their Audi R8 to a Ferrari and I was laughing... sure, you have the specs to kinda compare, but you're a nobody... it's like a rookie saying he's the same as Michael Jordan... everybody will hear you and just tell you to shut up...
Anyway, don't expect much from Audi... they're dogshit as a company...
mitsubishi :c
I want mitsubishi to return WRC.
No Mazda 323? 😢
Yep
As much as I'd love to see Lancia coming back to the rally scene, I don't see it happening for one simple reason, Stellantis.
This compagny is so weak, their sells low, their reputation is getting miserable: thanks 1.2l puretech, they are not looking for having a good image in motorsports except for the 9X8 than doesn't achieve a lot unfortunately and propose zero credible road legal sportscar in Europe. All they can do are 3008, Mokka and Fiat 500e, not bad cars but a bit boring.
Considering all of that having a revival of the Fulvia like they almost did in the early 2000s or really any flagship model would benefit Lancia and Stellantis a lot so I hope they give it a shot!
subaru are owned by toyota, it will never happen even if toyota leaves for f1.
vw is in dire straights financially tbh.
stellantis is gonna kill or sell lancia before they can get anywhere.
citroen are well... that fell apart spectacularly...
you are far more optimistic than i am
I think the Toyota Subaru situation otherway. I think that Akito Toyota wants to get Subaru also competing in Rally1
Plus from what I have heard, Toyota only have a minority stake in Subaru.
Wrc so meh without subaru and mitsubishi..
Mitsubishi 🥹