World Rally-Raid Championship

Last updated
World Rally-Raid Championship
World Rally-Raid Championship logo.png
Category Rally raid
CountryInternational
Inaugural season 2022
Classes
  • MOTO:
  • RallyGP, Rally2, Rally3, Quad
Drivers' champion Flag of Qatar.svg Nasser Al-Attiyah (O/A)
Flag of the United States.svg Seth Quintero (T3)
Flag of Lithuania.svg Rokas Baciuška (T4)
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Janus van Kasteren (T5)
Co-Drivers' champion Flag of France.svg Mathieu Baumel (O/A)
Flag of Germany.svg Dennis Zenz (T3)
Flag of Spain.svg Oriol Vidal Montijano (T4)
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Marcel Snijders (T5)
Riders' champion Flag of Argentina.svg Luciano Benavides (RallyGP)
Flag of France.svg Romain Dumontier (Rally2)
Flag of Austria.svg Ardit Kurtaj (Rally3)
Flag of Lithuania.svg Laisvydas Kancius (Quad)
Makes' champion Toyota Gazoo Racing (FIA)
Monster Energy Honda (FIM)
Official website WorldRallyRaidChampionship.com
Motorsport current event.svg Current season

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.

Contents

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] The 2025 season starts with the Dakar Rally and consists of five rounds including South Africa for the very first time.

Format

The championship consists primarily of two forms of cross-country rallying:

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

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

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
DriverCo-DriverManufacturer
2022 Flag of Qatar.svg Nasser Al-Attiyah Flag of France.svg Mathieu Baumel Flag of Japan.svg Toyota Gazoo Racing
Flag of France.svg Sébastien Loeb Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Fabian Lurquin Flag of Germany.svg X-Raid Mini JCW Team
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Yazeed Al-Rajhi Flag of Germany.svg Dirk von Zitzewitz Flag of Qatar.svg Bahrain Raid Xtreme
2023 Flag of Qatar.svg Nasser Al-Attiyah Flag of France.svg Mathieu Baumel Flag of Japan.svg Toyota Gazoo Racing
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Yazeed Al-Rajhi Flag of Germany.svg Timo Gottschalk Flag of Qatar.svg Bahrain Raid Xtreme
Flag of Argentina.svg Juan Cruz Yacopini Flag of Spain.svg Daniel Oliveras CarrerasOT3 by G Rally Team

FIM Rally-Raid World Champions

Season
RiderManufacturer
2022 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Sunderland Flag of Japan.svg Monster Energy Honda
Flag of the United States.svg Ricky Brabec Flag of Austria.svg Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Flag of France.svg Adrien Van Beveren Flag of Spain.svg Red Bull Gas Gas Factory Racing
2023 Flag of Argentina.svg Luciano Benavides Flag of Japan.svg Monster Energy Honda
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Toby Price Flag of Austria.svg Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Flag of France.svg Adrien Van Beveren Flag of Sweden.svg Husqvarna Factory Racing

FIA Rally-Raid Champions

Season
T3 DriverT3 Co-DriverT4 DriverT4 Co-DriverT5 DriverT5 Co-Driver
2022 Flag of Chile.svg Francisco López Flag of France.svg François Cazalet Flag of Lithuania.svg Rokas Baciuška Flag of Poland.svg Lukasz Laskawiec Flag of the Netherlands.svg Kees Koolen Flag of the Netherlands.svg Wouter De Graaff
Flag of the United States.svg Seth Quintero Flag of Germany.svg Dennis Zenz Flag of Poland.svg Marek Goczał Flag of Brazil.svg Gustavo Gugelmin Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Martin Macík Flag of the Czech Republic.svg František Tomášek
Flag of Spain.svg Cristina Gutiérrez Flag of Chile.svg Juan Pablo Latrach Flag of the United States.svg Austin Jones Flag of Spain.svg Oriol Mena Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Tomáš Vrátný Flag of the Czech Republic.svg David Švanda
2023 Flag of the United States.svg Seth Quintero Flag of Germany.svg Dennis Zenz Flag of Lithuania.svg Rokas Baciuška Flag of Spain.svg Oriol Vidal Flag of the Netherlands.svg Janus van Kasteren Flag of the Netherlands.svg Marcel Snijders

Flag of Poland.svg Darek Rodewald

Flag of the United States.svg Mitch Guthrie Flag of the United States.svg Kellon Walch Flag of Japan.svg Shinsuke Umeda Flag of Spain.svg Oriol Mena Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Tomáš Vrátný -
Flag of the United States.svg Austin Jones Flag of Brazil.svg Gustavo Gugelmin Flag of Poland.svg Eryk Goczał Flag of Italy.svg Maurizio Dominella Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Martin Macík Flag of Poland.svg Bartlomiej Boba

Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Jaromir Martinec

FIM Rally-Raid World Cup

Season
Rally2 RiderRally3 RiderQuad Rider
2022 Flag of the United States.svg Mason Klein Flag of Morocco.svg Amine Echiguer Flag of France.svg Alexandre Giroud
Flag of France.svg Romain Dumontier Flag of France.svg Jeremy Miroir Flag of Slovakia.svg Juraj Varga
Flag of South Africa.svg Bradley Cox Flag of France.svg Guillaume Borne Flag of Poland.svg Kamil Wiśniewski
2023 Flag of France.svg Romain Dumontier Flag of Austria.svg Ardit Kurtaj Flag of Lithuania.svg Laisvydas Kancius
Flag of Italy.svg Paolo Lucci Flag of the United States.svg Alexander Chepurko Flag of Guatemala.svg Rodolfo Guillioli Schippers
Flag of France.svg Jean-Loup Lepan Flag of Senegal.svg Cheikh-Yves Jacquemain Flag of Slovakia.svg Juraj Varga

FIM Rally-Raid Trophies

Season
WomenJunior (R2)SeniorJunior (R3)
2022 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Mirjam Pol Flag of the United States.svg Mason Klein Flag of Portugal.svg Mario PatraoFlag placeholder.svg No Participants
Flag of Spain.svg Sandra Gómez Flag of Poland.svg Konrad Dąbrowski Flag of Italy.svg Franco Picco
Flag of Spain.svg Sara García Flag of South Africa.svg Bradley Cox Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David McBride
2023 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Mirjam Pol Flag of France.svg Jean Loup Lepan Flag of Spain.svg Dominique Cizeau GiraultFlag placeholder.svg No Participants
- Flag of South Africa.svg Bradley Cox -
- Flag of Poland.svg Konrad Dąbrowski -

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Dakar Rally</span> Rally event

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "FIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STATUS FOR CROSS-COUNTRY RALLYING, WITH DAKAR RALLY AS ITS CORNERSTONE; A.S.O. APPOINTED GLOBAL PROMOTER". World Rally-Raid Championship.
  2. "A.S.O. ANNOUNCED AS THE FIRST EVER FIM WORLD RALLY-RAID CHAMPIONSHIP PROMOTER". World Rally-Raid Championship.
  3. 1 2 "🇬🇧 The new FIA & FIM World Rally Raid Championships - #Dakar2022" . Retrieved 2021-12-17 via YouTube.
  4. "FIA, ASO launch new Cross-Country World Championship around Dakar". Motorsport.com.
  5. Brunsdon, Stephen (17 March 2022). "Kazakhstan World Rally-Raid event canceled due to war". DirtFish. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  6. "W2RC - Revised dates for Rallye du Maroc and Andalucía Rally*". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . 7 June 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  7. "W2RC - LOEB WINS IN ANDALUCIA BUT AL-ATTIYAH SECURES INAUGURAL W2RC DRIVERS' TITLE". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . 23 October 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  8. "A DREAM SEASON FOR AL-ATTIYAH AND SUNDERLAND". World Rally-Raid Championship. 23 October 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  9. "W2RC: A DREAM SEASON FOR SUNDERLAND". Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme . 24 October 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  10. "FIA CROSS COUNTRY RALLIES". fia.com. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  11. "FIM Documents". fim-moto.com. Retrieved 4 January 2022.