Three days to go! The 2025 season of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) kicks off on Thursday evening, with a ritual start on Monte Carlo’s Casino Square, and there’s no shortage of new features: a new world champion, new events on the calendar, new tires and a new points system. Not to mention a step backwards desired by all competitors: there is no longer a hybrid propulsion system on the cars in the premium category (Rally1), which will reduce power for the drivers, but improve the bottom line for the teams!

This 2025 season was the subject of an inaugural ceremony on Sunday evening, in the sumptuous setting of Monaco’s Casino Square, in front of several hundred WRC fans and tourists visiting the Principality. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem was in attendance, as was WRC chief promoter Jona Siebel and executives from Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM). It was also an opportunity to officially present Korean manufacturer Hankook, the new exclusive official tire supplier for the WRC, succeeding Michelin and Pirelli, among others.

Neuville, the new champion!

The main news of this WRC season is the identity of the driver carrying number 1 on the doors of his Hyundai i20N: Belgian Thierry Neuville, resident of Monaco and finally rewarded, at the end of his 15th  season of international rallying (he made his debut in Catalonia in 2009!), after 168 starts (21 winsn 69 podiums. He will continue to have at his side the excellent Martijn Wydaeghe, the efficient accomplice of his latest victories and above all of that long-awaited and much-deserved world title in 2024.

A Frenchman at Hyundai

Alongside Neuville and Estonian Ott Tänak, another world champion, in the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team in 2025, there will be a French driver, Adrien Fourmaux, who was very much in evidence last year in his Ford and was therefore logically recruited this winter by Cyril Abiteboul, the boss at Hyundai Motorsport. At M-Sport Ford WRT, the leader this season will be Grégoire Munster, in his second full season in Rally1. He will be able to play big brother to Josh McErlean, a product of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and the FIA WRC2 championship.

Toyota: Rovanperä returns full-time

The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team has a main asset back this season: two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä, who took a step back last year. He’s back for a full season, alongside regulars Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, who along with luxury freelancer Sébastien Ogier managed to reclaim the Manufacturers’ World Rally Championship crown last year. There will also be a newcomer at Toyota, the very talented Sami Pajari, 2024 FIA WRC2 champion and thus promoted to the higher echelon.

Two major technical innovations…

The main technical news for the 2025 season is the arrival of Korean company Hankook as exclusive tire supplier. It will supply Ventus Z215 soft and super-soft tires, as well as SR20 snow tires, with or without studs. Hankook will then launch its Dynapro dirt tire later in the year.

In another notable development, the cars in the queen class (Rally1) are now lighter, simpler and more affordable, and they continue to use 100% sustainable fuel, as they have done since 2022. They are lighter because they no longer feature the plug-in hybrid units of the last three years. As part of the rule change, the minimum weight of the cars has been lowered from 1260 to 1180 kilos. To maintain an equivalent power-to-weight ratio between the 2024 and 2025 Rally1 cars, the size of the air restrictor has been reduced from 36 mm to 35 mm.

Improved points system

Championship points allocation has been further improved for 2025, to place greater emphasis on outright victory, while ensuring that there is still plenty to compete for on Sundays. Points will now be awarded on a sliding scale of 25-17-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 to the top 10 finishers. On Sunday, the top five of the last Leg only will also be rewarded, as well as the Top 5 drivers in the Power Stage (5-4-3-2-1). So that after being able to accumulate a maximum of 30 points in 2024, a driver who wins the rally, leads the Super Sunday standings and is fastest in the Power Stage can now earn 35 points.

Three new rallies!

Held over 14 rounds, compared with 13 previously, the WRC will visit the Spanish island of Gran Canaria for the first time, followed by Paraguay and Saudi Arabia at the end of the year, for the final round of the 2025 season. Finally, the Estonian Rally returns to the calendar, after a brief stint last year in the Euro Championship.

On all these rallies, former co-driver Nicolas Klinger will be the new FIA WRC safety delegate, following the decision of Michèle Mouton, the great French champion, to retire after more than ten years of loyal service. Klinger’s role as deputy safety delegate will be filled by Estonian Priit Priimägi.