Throughout the course of last year, the World Motor Sport Council approved a number of changes to the Sporting Regulations for the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship.
The main amendments are as follows:
Only drivers entered by registered manufacturers are eligible to drive 2017 World Rally Cars, with the approval of the FIA.
A manufacturer may nominate a minimum of two and maximum of three cars for the purpose of scoring points in the Manufacturers’ Championship. Scores from the two best cars in the final classification will amass points in this Championship. Additional cars may be entered by a manufacturer but will not be eligible to score points in the Manufacturers’ Championship.
To provide the opportunity for more drivers to be nominated, a manufacturer will not be required to nominate the first driver in its team. Nominations will however still be required by the closing date of entries for each event.
In the interest of fairness, the start order for World Championship rallies has been amended and is now based purely on performance:
Day 1: All cars start according to the actual Championship classification
Day 2: P1 drivers start in the reverse order of the actual rally classification after day 1. Other drivers start in the order of the rally classification
Day 3: P1 drivers start in the reverse order of the actual rally classification after day 2. Other drivers start in the order of the rally classification.
P1 drivers re-starting in Rally 2 will start at the end of the P1 group.
The number of additional points available in the Power Stage has been amended to reward the top five fastest drivers and co-drivers. Points will be awarded on a scale of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Manufacturers are no longer required to nominate one tyre supplier for the season. As such, a different brand of tyres could be used event by event or on different cars within one team.
An FIA WRC Trophy has been created for drivers and co-drivers participating in pre-2017 specification World Rally Cars. The maximum number of qualifying rallies is seven and the driver and co-driver who have scored the highest total of points in six of the qualifying rallies will win the titles. If less than five competitors register, no titles will be awarded.
In order to be classified in the final classification at the end of the season, WRC 2 competitors must have taken part in the mandatory rallies in Portugal (19-21 May), Germany (18-20 August) and Great Britain (27-29 October). Except in force majeure, non-participation in any of these three events will result in exclusion from the respective support championship classification and points will not be redistributed.
M-Sport is the supplier of Fiesta R2 cars to the FIA Junior WRC Championship for 2017 and 2018. The six events in the 2017 calendar are the rallies in France, Italy, Poland, Finland, Germany and Spain.
Priority 1 status will be reserved for drivers of World Rally Cars either entered by a registered manufacturer or entered in the FIA WRC Trophy. Priority 2 will continue to be for drivers eligible to score points in the FIA WRC 2 Championship and Priority 3 for those in the WRC 3 and Junior WRC Championship categories.
There is no longer an obligation for organisers to have 25% of the route competitive. The total distance of special stages does however remain at between 300-500 kilometres.
In 2017, each rally organiser must attain the middle level of Environmental Accreditation – Progress Towards Excellence – before the end of the season. From 2018, the top level of accreditation – Achievement of Excellence – must be achieved at least four months before the event is scheduled to run.
In order to allow media activities, the reconnaissance must be finished before 17:00 hrs on the Wednesday. Between 17:00-20:00 hrs is reserved for FIA and team media activities.
The number of permitted chassis per manufacturer has been increased from six to nine and the number of test days from 42 to 55.
Should a rally not be able to run in its entirety, Championship points will be awarded based on the established classification. Full points will be awarded if more than 75% of the scheduled length of special stages has been run, half points if between 50% and 75%, and no points will be awarded if less than 50% is run. Points awarded for the Power Stage, if run, are not subject to this attribution of reduced points.
