Ahead of next weekend’s Monte Carlo season opener, Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford will today unveil their all-new hybrid beasts at the championship’s official launch at Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria, attended by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Hyundai has already showed off its new i20 N earlier this week, but Toyota’s GR Yaris and M-Sport’s Puma are yet to break cover.
WRC teams have been racing against the clock to design and construct brand new cars to contest a 13-round championship, expected to deliver the most unpredictable title fight for decades, as drivers grapple with a new set of regulations.
Rally1 cars will feature a 100kW hybrid systems coupled to the existing 380 horsepower 1.6 litre internal combustion engine, powered by 100% sustainable fuel, that is capable of producing 500 horsepower in short bursts through the use of hybrid power boosts, lasting up to 10 seconds long.
For the first time cars will be built from scratch using a new FIA regulated tougher space frame chassis. Trick centre differentials to tune the handling of the cars have been removed, while the use of aerodynamics devices have been significantly reduced.
“It’s fitting these ground-breaking changes should be incorporated for the WRC’s 50th season,” said WRC Promoter managing director Jona Siebel.
“The new Rally1 cars look fantastic. After so much preparation and hard work across the sport, we’re just days away from the start of the new era – it’s hard to contain the excitement! I can’t wait to see the cars together in Salzburg to mark the start of what will be a thrilling year.”
Watch all the action from the launch here. The hour-long live stream will begin at 1700 GMT.
