2023 World Rally Championship

2023 World Rally Championship
The 2023 FIA World Rally Championship is the fifty-first season of the World Rally Championship, a motorsport competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. 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 homologated are eligible to score points in the manufacturers' championship. The championship began in January 2023 with the Monte Carlo Rally and is set to conclude in November 2023 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.
Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen were the reigning drivers' and co-drivers' champions, having secured their first championship titles at the 2022 Rally New Zealand. Toyota were the defending manufacturers' champions.
Rovanperä and Halttunen won their second World Rally Championship at the 2023 Central European Rally. With the final round remaining, they held the lead over Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin by forty-four points. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe are third, a further seven points behind. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT secured the manufacturer's title at the 2023 Rally Chile, holding over-one-hundred-point lead over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, with M-Sport Ford WRT in third.
The season was marred by the death of Craig Breen in a pre-event test prior to the 2023 Croatia Rally.
Calendar
The 2023 season is scheduled to be contested over thirteen rounds crossing Europe, Africa, North and South America and Asia.
Calendar changes
The championship was expected to be expanded to 14 rounds, with eight Europe-based rallies and six fly-away events covering the season. However, the number of the events was reduced to thirteen following a lengthy delay of the calendar. The anticipated rally based in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia was absent from the calendar.
Rally Mexico returned to championship after missing the and championships. The organizers of the rally had previously held a national event in 2022 in the bid of a 2023 return.
Rally Chile would rejoin the calendar after the Chilean protests and COVID-19 pandemic respectively ruled out the event in and .
The Central European Rally, a tri-nation event running a day each in Germany, Austria and Czech Republic, was introduced into the championship, replacing the Catalonian Rally. The rally would be based out of southeast Germany, in the city of Passau in Bavaria, and is set to run on tarmac.
Rally New Zealand, a round of the 2022 season, would not be included on the calendar, but the organizers are seeking an opportunity for a return as a part of the rotation program with Rally Australia.
Ypres Rally Belgium, which was a part of the championship for the prior two seasons, dropped off the calendar and instead forms part of the 2023 British Rally Championship.
Several rally organizers also expressed their interests to return to the championship, including Rally Argentina, Rally Australia, the German Rally, and an event in Northern Ireland. The Argentine and Northern Irish bids ultimately failed. In addition to the candidate events, the WRC Promoter GmbH was also working on the calendar expansion to the Middle East and United States.
Location changes
The headquarters of the Rally Italia Sardegna would be once again moved from Alghero to Olbia. The 2020 event was previously based in Olbia as a result of major route revisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2023 edition of the Safari Rally was based at the Lakeside town of Naivasha. The rally was previously based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Entrants
The following teams, drivers and co-drivers are under contracts to contest the championship under Rally1 regulations.
The below crews were not entered to score manufacturer points and were entered in Rally1 cars as privateers or under arrangement with the manufacturers.
In detail
M-Sport signed a full-year deal with Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja, who terminated their multi-year contract with Hyundai. Pierre-Louis Loubet's programme with the team was expanded, with Loubet entered every round as a manufacturer-registered points scorer. Nicolas Gilsoul, who was formerly Thierry Neuville's navigator, became Loubet's new co-driver. However, their partnership was ended before the 2023 Central European Rally. Benjamin Veillas, the ex co-driver of Sébastien Ogier, is set to replace Gilsoul. Adrien Fourmaux was demoted to the team's WRC-2 program, joining Grégoire Munster, though he would substitute Loubet at the season finale. Jourdan Serderidis continued to drive a privately-funded entry for the team at selected events. Chilean rally driver Alberto Heller made his top-tier debut at his home event with the team. So was the Luxembourgian driver Grégoire Munster at the event. Gus Greensmith left the team after eight years. He drove for Toksport in the WRC-2 championship.
Hyundai retained Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe. They were joined by Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm as the team's full-time crews. Craig Breen, who had previously driven for Hyundai from to , rejoined the team despite having a two-year contract with M-Sport. He shared the third car with Dani Sordo, who had previously planned to retire at the end of 2022 season. However, Breen died in an accident during a test before the 2023 Croatia Rally. The FIA subsequently announced that his car number 42 would be retired for the rest of the season. Teemu Suninen was announced to succeed his position with co-driver Mikko Markkula. Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson were dropped from the team. They moved to Toksport to compete the WRC-2 category. Former Renault Formula One Team manager Cyril Abiteboul became Hyundai's new team boss.
Toyota retained the crews of Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin and of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen as their two full-time competitors. As the defending champions, Rovanperä and Halttunen kept their car number 69 for the season, instead of opting for the number 1 plate. Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston stepped up to the works team to share the third car with Ogier and Vincent Landais. The team's fourth car is available for privately-funded competitors when Ogier does not compete, the first of whom were Lorenzo Bertelli and Simone Scattolin at the 2023 Rally Sweden. Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala also made a one-off return at the 2023 Rally Finland, announced after the Safari Rally.
Regulation changes
Rally organisers can include an optional Tyre warming zone (TWZ) between the Time Control (TC) and the start of a Special Stage, as well as evening flexi-service for Rally1 cars was limited to a maximum of two hours every rally weekend. Morning service on gravel rallies would also be removed.
The allocation of pre-event test days for the manufacturers was also reduced from 28 days to 21. This change was intended to reduce cost.
Season report
Opening rounds
At the season opener Ogier took his ninth Monte Carlo Rally win, surpassing Sébastien Loeb to become the driver with the most victories at the event. His navigator Landais took his first overall victory in a World Rally Championship round. The second round, Rally Sweden, saw Tänak and Järveoja take an early lead, before being surpassed by Breen and Fulton on Friday evening. However, Tänak and Järveoja fought back on Saturday evening, and eventually won the event. After being absent from Sweden, Ogier and Landais came back at the Rally Mexico, where they took another victory after capitalizing their relative late road position. Despite only competing two rounds, they still led the championships.
There was a tragedy before the Croatia Rally, where Hyundai driver Breen died in the pre-event test after the front-left of his i20 collided with a pole. His co-driver Fulton was unharmed. Evans and Martin eventually won the rally, their first since the 2021 Rally Finland. They dedicated the win to Breen.
Mid-season gravel events
The Portuguese Rally marked the start of a sequence of seven consecutive gravel events. Rovanperä and Halttunen dominated the rally, taking their first victory the season as well as winning the Power Stage to add full thirty points to their championship defends. The Sardinian Rally saw a rainy rally weekend. Ogier and Landais were fighting for the lead until they went off the road on Saturday evening. This left the Hyundai of Neuville and Wydaeghe and of Lappi and Ferm out in front before eventually scoring a 1–2 finish for the team. Toyota though responded with a 1–2–3–4 finish (their third at the Kenyan event and fourth in the WRC), with Ogier and Landais claiming their third win of the season. Meanwhile, Neuville and Wydaeghe were disqualified from eighth place at the next event, the Safari Rally, due to a reconnaissance breach, despite having retired from two of Friday afternoon's stages with suspension damage.
Heading into the second half of the season, Rovanperä and Halttunen did a Rally Estonia hat-trick, winning the rally as well as the Power Stage to extend their championship leads beyond fifty points. However, they retired from their home rally on Friday after they rolled their Yaris out of contention when leading the event. Evans and Martin capitalized on the opportunity by winning the event and the Power Stage to cut the championship leads down to twenty-five points. The retirement did not stop Rovanperä and Halttunen though as they won the following event and respective Power Stage to score maximum points for the third time in 2023. On the other hand, the crew of Neuville and Wydaeghe retired from the rally with suspension damage, whilst the Finnish crew's other main championship rivals in Evans and Martin finished second, further solidifying Rovanperä and Halttunen's chances of securing a second consecutive world title. The final gravel event of the season saw Toyota outscore Hyundai by more than thirteen points after Suninen and Markkula retired from second, which meant Toyota sealed a third consecutive manufacturer's title. The rally was won by Tänak and Järveoja, their second of the season.
Closing rounds
At the calendar newcomer, the Central European Rally, Rovanperä and Halttunen finished second after title rival and teammates Evans and Martin crashed out on Saturday, which meant Rovanperä and Halttunen successfully defended their world titles. Meanwhile, Neuville and Wydaeghe won the rally, closing the gap to the runners-up Evans and Martin in the championships.
Results and standings
Season summary
Scoring system
Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event. 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 2022-specification Rally1 car. There are also five bonus points awarded to the winners of the Power Stage, four points for second place, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. Power Stage points are awarded in the drivers', co-drivers' and manufacturers' championships.
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers
The driver who records a top-ten finish is taken into account for the championship regardless of the categories.
FIA World Rally Championship for Co-Drivers
The co-driver who records a top-ten finish is 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 and Power Stage at each rally are taken into account for the championship.
Notes
References
External links
FIA World Rally Championship 2023 at eWRC-results.com
World Rally Championship seasons
World Rally Championship
World Rally Championship
World Rally Championship