The mechanism that the FIA approved this week to allow Rally2 cars to compete in the WRC's top category during 2027 and 2028 has already lost three of its four possible participants. Škoda, Lancia and Hyundai will not homologate the aerodynamic kit, and M-Sport is the only one that has confirmed it will develop one for the Fiesta Rally2. The emergency instrument that the federation designed to guarantee entries in the top class arrives with much thinner backing than expected when it was approved, and the reasons of each of the three that declined are not the same.

Škoda has no room in its development schedule

Michal Hrabánek, head of motorsport at Škoda, explained that the timetable set by the FIA for developing the kit leaves no real margin to integrate it into the Czech manufacturer's work cycle, which has long been one of the pillars of the Rally2 market and already has its own development commitments underway.
"The deadline for the Rally2 WRC Kit is very short, and the ongoing discussions made early planning difficult," said Hrabánek, who confirmed that the Fabia RS Rally2 will continue competing in WRC2 next year without modifications for the top class.

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Lancia awaits a budget that Stellantis has not authorised

Lancia's case is more complex because the obstacle does not come from the kit itself. The regulations require that any manufacturer that homologates it must participate in all rounds of the calendar during the first year with at least two cars per rally, and for Lancia that implies a budgetary leap of several million euros compared to the current programme, in which Yohan Rossel contests eight events in 2026 and Nikolay Gryazin "a little more."
Didier Clément, team principal of Lancia Corse, explained that the programme operates with a customer‑oriented approach and without the direct backing that other factory teams receive, making the cost difference, in his words, "enormous".
"We are probably in the same situation as Škoda," said Clément, pointing out that both Toksport, which operates the Škoda cars, and PH Sport, which manages the Lancia programme, respond to customer structures and not to conventional factory budgets.

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What further complicates the picture is Stellantis's internal situation. In May, the group announced that it will concentrate the bulk of its investments on four main brands and reclassified Lancia as a "specialty brand" under the tutelage of Fiat. The only other brand with that status, DS Automobiles, has already announced its departure from Formula E at the end of the current season.

The Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale has FIA homologation until 2032, so the cars will remain available for private teams regardless of what Lancia Corse decides as an entrant. However, the team's participation as an official entrant beyond 2026 is, in Clément's words, something that "is not fixed at all".

Hyundai has other priorities for next year

Andrew Wheatley, sporting director of Hyundai, explained that the Korean team's efforts are currently aimed in two directions: closing 2026 with real chances in the manufacturers' championship and developing an update for the i20 N Rally2 to improve the product available to its customers.

The transitional kit falls outside that order, partly because Wheatley considers that the market for that product could be limited, given that most private teams come to the WRC to compete in WRC2 and not in the top class.

The world champion acknowledged that 2027 is "very open" for Hyundai without specifying whether the team will have a presence in the top class, making the Korean manufacturer another unknown for a season that is accumulating unanswered questions.

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A mechanism with less backing than expected

The kit was designed with the premise that Rally2 teams would see a clear incentive to bring their cars to the top category at an affordable cost — €7,500 per unit — compared to the full development of a WRC27. Toyota, which is already working on its own car for the new regulations, does not need the mechanism, and the rest had reasons to consider the option.
For now, only M-Sport has taken it up, which forces the question of how many top‑class cars there will actually be in the first rally of the season and what proportion will be Rally2 with kits versus genuine WRC27 cars.
The answer will depend on whether any of the three manufacturers that have ruled out the kit reconsider their position in the coming months, and whether Project Rally One, the only independent project working on a WRC27 without an official entry announcement, eventually materialises.