World Rally-Raid Championship Explained

Pixels:300px
Category:Rally raid
Country/Region:International
Inaugural2:2022
Champion Driver: Nasser Al-Attiyah (O/A)
Seth Quintero (T3)
Rokas Baciuška (T4)
Janus van Kasteren (T5)
Champion Codriver: Mathieu Baumel (O/A)
Dennis Zenz (T3)
Oriol Vidal Montijano (T4)
Marcel Snijders (T5)
Champion Rider: Luciano Benavides (RallyGP)
Romain Dumontier (Rally2)
Ardit Kurtaj (Rally3)
Laisvydas Kancius (Quad)
Manufacturer:Toyota Gazoo Racing (FIA)
Monster Energy Honda (FIM)
Current Season:2024 World Rally-Raid Championship

The World Rally-Raid Championship (officially abbreviated as W2RC) is a rally raid series co-sanctioned by the FIA and FIM and promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO).[1] [2] The championship's seasons culminate with world championship titles in both automobile and motorcycle categories.

Beginning in 2022, the series replaced both the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies and FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship as the top echelon of the sport of rally raid.[3] ASO will serve as series promotor for a period of five years.

History

The combined World Championship series was conceived as a result of efforts by the ASO, FIA and FIM to harmonize regulations.[4] After a vote by the World Motorsport Council to officially make rally raid the seventh world championship under the FIA in 2021, they joined with the FIM to combine their respective international cross-country rallying series into a single World Rally-Raid Championship. The ASO, promotor of the Dakar Rally, was chosen by both world-governing bodies as the sole promotor of the series for a period of five years.

The inaugural World Championship officially kicked off with the 2022 Dakar Rally and ended in Morocco following revisions to the schedule due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, forcing the cancellation of that year's Rally Kazakhstan,[5] and environmental concerns that forced the Andalucia Rally to be rescheduled.[6] The inaugural winners of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship were Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel with Toyota Gazoo Racing as the winning manufacturer;[7] while Sam Sunderland did likewise in the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship with Monster Energy Honda.[8] [9]

Format

The championship consists primarily of two forms of cross-country rallying:

The cross-country baja format continues to be contested in the international FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas and FIM Bajas World Cup competitions, separate from the world championship.

Categories and awards

The series covers various categories under both the FIA and FIM.[10] [11]

FIA categories

Groups T1, T2, T3 and T4 are eligible for the overall FIA Rally-Raid World Championship titles for drivers, co-drivers, and manufacturers. Additional Group-specific championships are awarded in Groups T3, T4 and T5.

FIM categories

Only riders competing in the RallyGP category are eligible for the FIM Rally-Raid World Championship. World Cup titles are available for champions of the Rally2, Rally3, and Quad categories.

Champions

FIA Rally-Raid World Champions

Season
DriverCo-DriverManufacturer
2022 Toyota Gazoo Racing
Sébastien Loeb Fabian Lurquin X-Raid Mini JCW Team
Yazeed Al-Rajhi Dirk von Zitzewitz Bahrain Raid Xtreme
2023 Toyota Gazoo Racing
Yazeed Al-Rajhi Timo Gottschalk Bahrain Raid Xtreme
Juan Cruz Yacopini Daniel Oliveras CarrerasOT3 by G Rally Team

FIM Rally-Raid World Champions

Season
RiderManufacturer
2022 Monster Energy Honda
Ricky Brabec Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Adrien Van Beveren Red Bull Gas Gas Factory Racing
2023 Luciano Benavides Monster Energy Honda
Toby Price Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Adrien Van Beveren Husqvarna Factory Racing

FIA Rally-Raid Champions

Season
T3 DriverT3 Co-DriverT4 DriverT4 Co-DriverT5 DriverT5 Co-Driver
2022 François Cazalet Lukasz Laskawiec Wouter De Graaff
Seth Quintero Dennis Zenz Marek Goczał Gustavo Gugelmin Martin Macík František Tomášek
Cristina Gutiérrez Juan Pablo Latrach Austin Jones Oriol Mena Tomáš Vrátný David Švanda
2023 Dennis Zenz Marcel Snijders Darek Rodewald
Mitch Guthrie Kellon Walch Shinsuke Umeda Oriol Mena Tomáš Vrátný-
Austin Jones Gustavo Gugelmin Eryk Goczał Maurizio Dominella Martin Macík Bartlomiej Boba Jaromir Martinec

FIM Rally-Raid World Cup

Season
Rally2 RiderRally3 RiderQuad Rider
2022 Mason Klein Amine Echiguer Alexandre Giroud
Romain Dumontier Jeremy Miroir Juraj Varga
Bradley Cox Guillaume Borne Kamil Wiśniewski
2023 Romain Dumontier Ardit Kurtaj Laisvydas Kancius
Paolo Lucci Alexander Chepurko Rodolfo Guillioli Schippers
Jean-Loup Lepan Cheikh-Yves Jacquemain Juraj Varga

FIM Rally-Raid Trophies

Season
WomenJunior (R2)SeniorJunior (R3)
2022 Mirjam Pol Mason Klein Mario Patrao No Participants
Sandra Gómez Konrad Dąbrowski Franco Picco
Sara García Bradley Cox David McBride
2023 Mirjam Pol Jean Loup Lepan Dominique Cizeau Girault No Participants
- Bradley Cox-
- Konrad Dąbrowski-

See also

External links

See main article: world championships.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: FIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STATUS FOR CROSS-COUNTRY RALLYING, WITH DAKAR RALLY AS ITS CORNERSTONE; A.S.O. APPOINTED GLOBAL PROMOTER. World Rally-Raid Championship. en.
  2. Web site: A.S.O. ANNOUNCED AS THE FIRST EVER FIM WORLD RALLY-RAID CHAMPIONSHIP PROMOTER. World Rally-Raid Championship. en.
  3. Web site: The new FIA & FIM World Rally Raid Championships - #Dakar2022. en. 2021-12-17. YouTube.
  4. Web site: FIA, ASO launch new Cross-Country World Championship around Dakar. Motorsport.com. en.
  5. News: Brunsdon. Stephen. Kazakhstan World Rally-Raid event canceled due to war. DirtFish. 17 March 2022. 16 November 2022.
  6. News: W2RC - Revised dates for Rallye du Maroc and Andalucía Rally*. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 7 June 2022. 16 November 2022.
  7. News: W2RC - LOEB WINS IN ANDALUCIA BUT AL-ATTIYAH SECURES INAUGURAL W2RC DRIVERS' TITLE. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 23 October 2022. 16 November 2022.
  8. News: A DREAM SEASON FOR AL-ATTIYAH AND SUNDERLAND. World Rally-Raid Championship. 23 October 2022. 16 November 2022.
  9. News: W2RC: A DREAM SEASON FOR SUNDERLAND. Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme. 24 October 2022. 16 November 2022.
  10. Web site: FIA CROSS COUNTRY RALLIES. fia.com. 4 January 2022.
  11. Web site: FIM Documents. fim-moto.com. 4 January 2022.