World Rally-Raid Championship

(Redirected from W2RC)

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.

World Rally-Raid Championship
CategoryRally raid
CountryInternational
Inaugural season2022
Classes
  • MOTO:
  • RallyGP, Rally2, Rally3, Quad
Drivers' championQatar Nasser Al-Attiyah (O/A)
United States Seth Quintero (T3)
Lithuania Rokas Baciuška (T4)
Netherlands Janus van Kasteren (T5)
Co-Drivers' championFrance Mathieu Baumel (O/A)
Germany Dennis Zenz (T3)
Spain Oriol Vidal Montijano (T4)
Netherlands Marcel Snijders (T5)
Riders' championArgentina Luciano Benavides (RallyGP)
France Romain Dumontier (Rally2)
Austria Ardit Kurtaj (Rally3)
Lithuania Laisvydas Kancius (Quad)
Makes' championToyota Gazoo Racing (FIA)
Monster Energy Honda (FIM)
Official websiteWorldRallyRaidChampionship.com
Current season

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.[1]

History

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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.[1]

The inaugural World Championship officially kicked off with the 2022 Dakar Rally[3] 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

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

  • Cross-Country Rally: Between four and six timed stages; total distance of 1200km.
  • Cross-Country Marathon: More than six timed stages; total distance of 2500km.

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

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

FIA categories

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  • T1: Prototype Cross-Country Cars
  • T2: Series Production Cross-Country Cars
  • T3: Lightweight Prototype Cross-Country Vehicles
    • FIA Rally-Raid Championship for T3 drivers and co-drivers.
  • T4: Modified Production Cross-Country Side-by-Side Vehicles
    • FIA Rally-Raid Championship for T4 drivers and co-drivers.
  • T5: Prototype and Production Cross-Country Trucks
    • FIA Rally-Raid Championship for T5 drivers and co-drivers.

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

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  • RallyGP
    • FIM Rally-Raid World Championship for riders and manufacturers
  • Rally2
    • FIM Rally-Raid World Cup for Rally2 Riders
    • FIM Rally-Raid Trophy for Juniors
    • FIM Rally-Raid Trophy for Women
    • FIM Rally-Raid Trophy for Seniors
  • Rally3
    • FIM Rally-Raid World Cup for Rally3 Riders
    • FIM Rally-Raid Trophy for Juniors
  • Quad
    • FIM Rally-Raid World Cup for Quad Riders

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

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FIA Rally-Raid World Champions

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Season
Driver Co-Driver Manufacturer
2022   Nasser Al-Attiyah   Mathieu Baumel   Toyota Gazoo Racing
  Sébastien Loeb   Fabian Lurquin   X-Raid Mini JCW Team
  Yazeed Al-Rajhi   Dirk von Zitzewitz   Bahrain Raid Xtreme
2023   Nasser Al-Attiyah   Mathieu Baumel   Toyota Gazoo Racing
  Yazeed Al-Rajhi   Timo Gottschalk   Bahrain Raid Xtreme
  Juan Cruz Yacopini   Daniel Oliveras Carreras OT3 by G Rally Team

FIM Rally-Raid World Champions

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Season
Rider Manufacturer
2022   Sam Sunderland   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

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Season
T3 Driver T3 Co-Driver T4 Driver T4 Co-Driver T5 Driver T5 Co-Driver
2022   Francisco López   François Cazalet   Rokas Baciuška   Lukasz Laskawiec   Kees Koolen   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   Seth Quintero   Dennis Zenz   Rokas Baciuška   Oriol Vidal   Janus van Kasteren   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

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Season
Rally2 Rider Rally3 Rider Quad 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

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Season
Women Junior (R2) Senior Junior (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

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References

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