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.
 | |
| Category | Rally raid |
|---|---|
| Country | International |
| Inaugural season | 2022 |
| Classes |
|
| Drivers' champion |  Nasser Al-Attiyah (O/A)  Seth Quintero (T3)  Rokas Baciuška (T4)  Janus van Kasteren (T5) |
| Co-Drivers' champion |  Mathieu Baumel (O/A)  Dennis Zenz (T3)  Oriol Vidal Montijano (T4) Marcel Snijders (T5) |
| Riders' champion |  Luciano Benavides (RallyGP) Romain Dumontier (Rally2)  Ardit Kurtaj (Rally3) Laisvydas Kancius (Quad) |
| Makes' champion | Toyota Gazoo Racing (FIA) Monster Energy Honda (FIM) |
| Official website | WorldRallyRaidChampionship.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
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
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
The series covers various categories under both the FIA and FIM.[10][11]
FIA categories
- 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
- 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
FIA Rally-Raid World Champions
| 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
| 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
| 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
|
| Mitch Guthrie | Kellon Walch | Shinsuke Umeda | Oriol Mena | Tomáš Vrátný | - | |
| Austin Jones | Gustavo Gugelmin | Eryk Goczał |  Maurizio Dominella | Martin Macík | Bartlomiej Boba
|
FIM Rally-Raid World Cup
| 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
| 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
References
External links
- Official website
- Official website - FIA Rally-Raid
- Official website - FIM Rally-Raid