All focus on Euro RX from 2026

The FIA World Rallycross Championship completed 11 years in 2025 and will end the current season at Istanbul next weekend, with roughly half of its history being of massive hype but the most recent half being of quest to at least reach that same hype, failing year after year, and with FIA in direct control of the promotion and seeing the situation might have no return until a new ruleset comes, the World stage will leave the scene momentarily, keeping the FIA European Rallycross Championship as the top rallycross competition from 2026 onwards.
 
In Türkiye, World RX will revive the concept of mixed grid with Euro RX1, a practice that hasn’t been used for a decade, solely by the fact that only four World RX competitors will be there with 10 drivers on Euro RX1 side, and while numbers may vary, this has been the trend for nearly half a decade, because barely any Euro RX1 competitors have stepped up into the World stage, and the influx from national championships has also been suffering.
 
While some teams reduced their programs to regional or national level, others simply quit rallycross altogether, like ESMotorsport, which went from World RX competitor in 2019 and 2020 to Euro RX1 champion in 2021 and now focuses on sportscar racing on the Baltic Touring Car Championship and the Aurum 1006km. GCK was an integral part of the championship until 2020, when focus shifted to the Dakar Rally and hydrogen and electrification, although they had a brief return in 2023, which was cut off by the events at Lydden Hill, and since then, Special ONE Racing never announced a new rallycross program.
 
In order to regain traction with teams, drivers and the fans, the FIA announced a series of measures to keep things simple and affordable, which would allow more privateers and independents to reach the higher levels of the discipline.
 
The most drastic of all will be the abolition of the RX1e specification, with the contract with powertrain provider Kreisel Electric ending this year. The spec entered the World RX scene in 2022, staying until 2023 as the sole option to compete in World RX, while in 2024 and 2025 it shared the track with the regular internal combustion supercars in what was called the “Battle of Technologies”. 14 RX1e powertrain kits were built, but of those, 11 were included in a car, with 10 cars racing while the Skoda Fabia RX1e from ESMotorsport only did testing runs.
 
Of the 10 that raced on World RX, two from Special ONE were consumed in the Lydden Hill fire and the SEAT Ibiza RX1e from Münnich Motorsport didn’t compete after 2023, while the third Kristoffersson Motorsport car was used sporadicaly, leaving a total of six cars competing since 2024. Outside ESMotorsport, KMS, Hansen WRXT, Special ONE, CE Dealer Team and Münnich, no other team even declared interest in acquiring them, meaning they were built for the team’s uses.
 
Despite the best efforts to balance supercars and RX1es, the Balance of Performance never had a global agreement, with the supercars initially having a weight advantage, but when they received ballasts, they were rendered uncompetitive against the RX1es.
 
From 2026, only supercars will be admitted, and the World RX goes out of scene as the Euro RX returns to the top of the rallycross ladder, like how it was before 2014. The idea is that a simplification of the technical ruleset will favor grid growth, while the FIA Rallycross World Cup will be an one-off event outside Europe. The Euro RX calendar goes from five to six venues in 2026, with the FIA promissing that the championship will visit iconic venues.
 
These measures should keep the FIA rallycross system stable until the new framework for the World Rally Championship comes in 2028, which will affect rallycross inside the FIA system and will create the avenue for the return of a World championship, although RallyX Europe might be alternative path for some teams and drivers, given that its Open 4WD class offers a broader choice of spec in a fairly competitive field.
 
PHOTO: FIA World Rallycross Championship