WRC Rally Croatia
Understanding WRC hybrid failures top of FIA priority list
Understanding the causes of World Rally Championship hybrid unit failures is at the top of the FIA’s technical team’s priority list, according to new rally director Andrew Wheatley.
Tom Howard
Edited: Apr 22, 2022, 3:31 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The WRC’s new-for-2022 control 100kW hybrid unit came under scrutiny in Rally Sweden in February after Hyundai’s Ott Tanak was forced to retire from the event when a red light appeared on his Compact Dynamics system while fighting for the victory.
Under the regulations Hyundai had to retire the car on safety grounds and incur a 10-minute penalty, while the i20 N was still operational and challenging for stage wins.
Following calls from the WRC teams, new regulations regarding hybrid failures have been introduced that will result in competitors handed a two-minute penalty for every stage missed if a hybrid unit suffers a fault. The new rules will be available for the first time at this weekend’s Rally Croatia.
The rule changes have received mixed reviews from drivers and teams. Tanak believes there should be more focus on improving the reliability of the hybrid units, while Hyundai, Toyota and M-Sport Ford agree the reduced penalty is a step in the right direction.
However, Hyundai is still yet to receive a full explanation for the fault on Tanak’s car which Wheatley is keen for the FIA to resolve.
“Absolutely, I can promise you it is at the top of the priority list for the technical department to understand what that position is,” said Wheatley, when asked by Motorsport.com if the lack of understanding over the hybrid unit failure is a concern eight weeks on.
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport
“It would be fantastic to open the top of the box and see a disconnected lead and be able to put it back together, and be able to say that is the fix. Unfortunately the difficult ones very rarely are that simple to fix.
“And the situation with the penalty change was something we started in Sweden hours after that issue changed.
"Once that issue arrived we have to find a solution because what we don’t want to do is have a position where the sporting integrity of the event is challenged, and what we wanted to do is to try and sit down with everybody to understand, working together, what was the best option going forward.
“There is no best option. The best option is everything works all of the time, but the reality is there are mechanical components and mechanical components unfortunately sometimes break and that is part of development.
"But, absolutely we are working and all the suppliers and all the partners are working incredibly hard on how we can improve the situation as we go forward.
"Each of those hybrid units in each of those teams had 30 days of testing and plus the additional days. There has been tens of thousands of kilometres done with those units in the most extreme conditions, but nothing compares to when you start the stopwatch.
"You can test and test and test but as soon as the stopwatch starts all bets are off.”
Read Also:
- Hyundai “getting closer” to naming its new WRC team principal
- WRC Croatia: Lappi retires as Evans suffers puncture in first stage
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article WRC Croatia: Rovanpera stars as rain wreaks havoc on Friday morning
Next article WRC Croatia: Neuville receives time penalty denting podium hopes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Tom Howard
WRC’s new champion Elfyn Evans celebrates title with Wales show run
WRC
WRC
WRC’s new champion Elfyn Evans celebrates title with Wales show run
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
WRC
WRC
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
Latest news
How Geri Halliwell helped Christian Horner deal with fan hate
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 37 min
How Geri Halliwell helped Christian Horner deal with fan hate
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
Portimão
1 h
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe