2024 World Rally Championship

The 2024 FIA World Rally Championship is a planned motorsport season that would be the fifty-second season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing competition recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews are set to 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 homologated under radically new regulations are eligible to score points in the manufacturers' championship. The championship is set to begin in January 2024 with the Monte Carlo Rally and would conclude in November 2024 with the Rally Japan. The series is supported by the World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3 categories at every round of the championship and by the Junior World Rally Championship at selected events.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT (GR Yaris Rally1 pictured) are the reigning manufacturers' champions.

Toyota are the defending manufacturers' champions.

Calendar
2024 World Rally Championship is located in Earth
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
2024 World Rally Championship
A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2024 championship. Event headquarters are marked with black dots.

The 2024 season is scheduled to be contested over thirteen rounds crossing Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.

Round Start date Finish date Rally Rally headquarters Surface Stages Distance Ref.
1 25 January 28 January Monaco Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Mixed[lower-alpha 1] 17 338.62 km [1]
2 15 February 18 February Sweden Rally Sweden Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden Snow TBA TBA
3 28 March 31 March Kenya Safari Rally Kenya Nairobi, Kenya Gravel TBA TBA
4 18 April 21 April Croatia Croatia Rally Zagreb, Croatia Tarmac TBA TBA
5 9 May 12 May Portugal Rally de Portugal Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal Gravel TBA TBA
6 30 May 2 June Italy Rally Italia Sardegna Olbia, Sardinia, Italy Gravel TBA TBA
7 27 June 30 June Poland Rally Poland Mikołajki, Warmian–Masurian, Poland Gravel TBA TBA
8 18 July 21 July Latvia Rally Latvia Liepāja, Kurzeme Planning Region, Latvia Gravel TBA TBA
9 1 August 4 August Finland Rally Finland Jyväskylä, Central Finland, Finland Gravel TBA TBA
10 5 September 8 September Greece Acropolis Rally Greece Lamia, Central Greece, Greece Gravel TBA TBA
11 26 September 29 September Chile Rally Chile Concepción, Biobío, Chile Gravel TBA TBA
12 31 October 3 November Europe Central European Rally Passau, Bavaria, Germany Tarmac TBA TBA
13 21 November 24 November Japan Rally Japan Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, Chūbu region, Japan Tarmac TBA TBA
Sources:[2][3]

Calendar changes

The championship was expected to be expanded to fourteen rounds,[4] but the WRC Promoter GmbH ultimately opted to stick with thirteen events in intention to attract more manufacturers.[5]

The headquarter of the Rally Liepāja at night in 2015.
  • The Rally Mexico dropped off the calendar, but the organizers are seeking an opportunity for a 2025 return.[10]

The WRC Promoter GmbH is also working on the two key calendar expansions for the future.[11]

  • While progress has been made for the candidate event in the United States, which was also aiming to join the championship in 2024,[12] the rally would join the rally of Saudi Arabia to seek for 2025 calendar spots.[13] Chattanooga, Tennessee is planned to be the rally headquarter and the event would be held on gravel surface.[14]
  • The other key expansion is Rally China, which was last featured in 1999. The rally was also scheduled to be held in 2016, but it was ultimately cancelled due to the damage caused by the 2016 China floods.[15]

In addition to the events in China and the United States, Saudi Arabia is also on the candidate list, despite it would once again off the 2024 spot.[16] The rally is part of WRC Promoter GmbH's plan to deliver a desert rally.[17] Rally Argentina is also bidding to return to the championship.[18]

Other changes
  • The Kenyan Rally, which took place in June on the last three calendars, would move ahead to March at the weekend of Easter holiday, holding as the third round of the season.[21]

Entries

The following manufacturers are set to contest the championship under Rally1 regulations.[22]

Manufacturer Entrant Car No. Driver name Co-driver name
Ford United Kingdom M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Puma Rally1 7 France Pierre-Louis Loubet France Benjamin Veillas
Hyundai South Korea Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 N Rally1 8 Estonia Ott Tänak Estonia Martin Järveoja
11 Belgium Thierry Neuville Belgium Martijn Wydaeghe
Toyota Japan Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 TBA TBA TBA

In detail

M-Sport would keep Pierre-Louis Loubet, who missed the 2023 season finale in the preparation of this year.[23] The team's long-time privateer Jourdan Serderidis is set to retire at the end of 2023 season.[24]

Hyundai would retained the crew of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe.[25] Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja would rejoin the team after spending one year with M-Sport.[26]

Notes
  1. The Monte Carlo Rally is run on a tarmac and snow surface.

References
  1. "Itinerary Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo 2024". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  2. "Revealed: 2024 WRC Calendar". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  3. "FIA WRC 2024 set for lift-off following calendar reveal". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  4. Howard, Tom (19 May 2023). "WRC closing in on 14-round 2024 calendar". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  5. Barry, Luke (15 August 2023). "WRC to unveil 13-round 2024 calendar before Greece". dirtfish.com. DirtFish. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  6. Howard, Tom (9 October 2023). "Poland to rejoin WRC calendar in 2024". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  7. Howard, Tom (17 February 2023). "Latvia joins WRC calendar from 2024". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  8. Barry, Luke (24 July 2023). "WRC would be "stupid" to lose Rally Estonia – Tänak". dirtfish.com. DirtFish. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  9. Barry, Luke (9 October 2023). "Rally Poland returns to WRC for 2024". dirtfish.com. DirtFish. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  10. Evans, David (27 September 2023). "Rally of nations returns as Mexico prepares WRC 2025 bid". dirtfish.com. DirtFish. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  11. Howard, Tom (28 September 2023). "WRC lists China and USA as key expansion targets". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  12. Howard, Tom (26 January 2023). "Rally USA a potential contender to join WRC in 2024". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  13. Howard, Tom (8 August 2023). "WRC set for 13-round 2024 calendar, Saudi Arabia to miss out". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  14. Gilboy, James (17 March 2023). "Tennessee Could Host a WRC Race in 2024". thedrive.com. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  15. Evans, David (16 August 2016). "Rally China cancelled due to storm damage after organisers' request". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  16. Lindroos, Pontus (22 October 2022). "2023 WRC calendar to be presented later than expected". thecheckeredflag.co.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  17. Howard, Tom (26 November 2022). "WRC pushes Middle East event plans to 2024 following calendar reveal". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  18. Howard, Tom (29 July 2023). "UK "unlikely" to secure 2024 WRC round, Argentina vying for Americas spot". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  19. Barry, Luke (6 June 2022). "Monte Carlo Rally returns to Gap for 2024". dirtfish.com. DirtFish. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  20. "Monaco base for new-look Rallye Monte-Carlo". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  21. "WRC Safari Rally 2024 Moved To March". 98.4 Capital FM. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  22. "WRC manufacturers comfirm three-year hybrid agreement". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  23. Bowen, James (20 October 2023). "Fourmaux to return to Rally1 for WRC season finale". dirtfish.com. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  24. Barry, Luke (4 April 2023). "Serderidis to retire from WRC at end of the season". dirtfish.com. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  25. Howard, Tom (3 August 2023). "Deadline set for Hyundai WRC four car expansion decision". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  26. "Hyundai confirms Tänak return". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
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