Stepping stone
It was about keeping both the costs under control and the performance of the car where it should be
The R5 class of rally car (now known as Rally2 under the FIA’s new pyramid structure) has been one of the greatest regulatory successes of the past decade. With several thousand R5s now built by a host of manufacturers, the balance between performance and cost effectiveness hit the mark with competitors at both international and national level.
However, a Rally2 car is still far from cheap, coming in at close to €250,000 (approx. $298,000) once spec’d in both gravel and tarmac trims, and with a few optional extras added to the mix. This is a huge jump from the €66,000 (approx. $78,750) cost of a Rally4 (formerly R2) spec, FWD machine which, until this year, was the next step down on the WRC progression ladder.
For drivers wishing to step up to 4WD, there is also a considerable leap in performance, with cars outputting around 200bhp in Rally4 and close to 300bhp in Rally2.
Enter Rally3, which will now provide a stepping stone across this void.
The early bird
As it was with R5, Malcom Wilson’s Cumbria, UK-based MSport has been the first out of the blocks to homologate a car to the Rally3 rule set, developing an iteration of the evergreen Ford Fiesta. In fact, the team can take much of the credit for the creation of the class.
Maciej Woda, managing
