The FIA announced the launch of the World Rally-Raid Championship in mid-June. Since then, the highest body in motorsports has been working not only on shaping the championship, but on adjust the regulations to align with the ASO regulations for the Dakar. In this way, consistency is ensured for competitors in all events. To this end, the FIA has approved through the World Motor Council a series of amendments and updates to the sports and technical regulations to lay the foundations for the new category that will include the Dakar as its star event.
In the technical section, the FIA has named the class for vehicles with alternative and experimental technologies, including electric, hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as T1 Ultimate (T1.U). In turn, it has reaffirmed the T1 + class as a direct evolution of the T1 category. New regulations have also been passed for T5 prototype trucks. Thus, the FIA and ASO define a pyramid of vehicles that cover a wide range of needs and competitive bets to compete in the Dakar and in the rest of the events of the new World Championship.
In this regard, the FIA has defined that at the end of each season drivers, co-drivers and constructors’ titles will be awarded in the premier class, but also of pilots and co-pilots of classes T3, T4 and T5. In addition, the T4 (UTV) and T5 (prototype trucks) class will also have a brand classification. The FIA has also defined two scoring systems according to the duration of the events, since the shorter rallies will award points from 1st to 15th with a maximum value of 30 units, while the ‘marathon’ events will offer 50 points to the winner. In both cases, 5-4-3-2-1 points will be distributed to the five best participants in each stage.