Internal combustion-powered cars to race alongside EVs in World RX

Sustainably-fueled internal combustion-engined cars will return to the World Rallycross championship next season alongside the current electric cars, marking the first time both technologies have competed side-by-side in an FIA world championship.

The move, which the FIA is calling a “Battle of Technologies” concept, was approved at the final World Motorsport Council meeting of the year in Baku on Wednesday, with the guarantee that both would be competing on “equal terms."

It’s not an entirely new idea, however -- both the British and Nordic championships have adopted mixed combustion and EV rulesets -- but it is the first time both combustion and fully electric vehicles will be accepted in the same class in a top-level championship.

World RX adopted an all-electric formula in 2022, but entry numbers have been low, with eight entries for much of 2022 and 10 for most of '23. The series was also brought to a halt in the summer after a fire consumed both Special ONE Racing cars ahead of the British round to the championship at Lydden Hill. An investigation into that fire continues, while the final four rounds of the season – doubleheader events in South Africa and Hong Kong – were contested using the Zeroid X1 from the single-make RX2e support series.

As well as the adoption of both electric and combustion technologies, a decision to revert to position-scored qualifying rather than time-based was approved, in a bid to “reduce the jeopardy of track conditions/evolution and be easier to be understood by fans new to the sport.”

Finally, Hoosier Tire will replace Cooper as the series’ sole tire supplier following a successful test last month. Hoosier has yet to supply rubber to a premier-level FIA championship, but is no stranger to off-road racing or rallycross, and was a supplier to the short-lived TitansRX Europe rallycross series that ran throughout 2019.