The 2022 FIA World Rally Championship was the 50th season of the World Rally Championship (WRC), an international rallying series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers; each won by Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen and Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.
Crews were free to compete in cars complying with Groups Rally1 to Rally5 regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with Rally1 cars homologated under radically new regulations were eligible to score points in the manufacturers' championship. The championship began in January 2022 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2022 with Rally Japan. The series was supported by WRC2 and WRC3 at every round of the championship with the junior category at selected events.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were the reigning drivers' and co-drivers' champions, having secured their eighth championship titles at the 2021 Rally Monza. However, Ingrassia did not defend his title as he retired from competition at the end of 2021 season. Toyota were the defending manufacturers' champions.
Rovanperä and Halttunen won their first World Rally Championship titles after winning the 2022 Rally New Zealand. At the age of twenty-two, Rovanperä became the youngest ever World Rally Champion. At the conclusion of the championship, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja finished second, trailing by fifty points. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe were third, a further twelve points behind. In the manufacturers' championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT successfully defended their title at the 2022 Rally Catalunya, a seventy-point lead over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, with M-Sport Ford WRT in third.
Calendar
The 2022 season was contested over thirteen rounds across Europe, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. RoundStart dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceRef.120 January23 January Rallye Automobile Monte CarloMonte Carlo, MonacoMixed17296.03 km224 February27 February Rally SwedenUmeå, Västerbotten CountySnow17264.81 km321 April24 April Croatia RallyZagrebTarmac20291.84 km419 May22 May Rally de PortugalMatosinhos, PortoGravel21338.34 km52 June5 June Rally Italia SardegnaAlghero, SardiniaGravel21307.91 km623 June26 June Safari Rally KenyaNairobiGravel19363.44 km714 July17 July Rally EstoniaTartu, Tartu CountyGravel24314.26 km84 August7 August Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel22322.61 km918 August21 August Ypres Rally BelgiumYpres, West FlandersTarmac20281.58 km108 September11 September Acropolis Rally GreeceLamia, Central GreeceGravel16303.30 km1129 September2 October Rally New ZealandAuckland, North IslandGravel17279.80 km1220 October23 October RACC Rally Catalunya de EspañaSalou, CataloniaTarmac19293.77 km1310 November13 November Rally JapanToyota, Chūbu regionTarmac19283.27 kmSources:
Location changes The headquarters of the Monte Carlo Rally moved from Gap, Hautes-Alpes to Monaco alone. The rally was previously headquartered solely in Monaco in . Rally Sweden returned to the championship after a one-year absence. Because of a lack of snow, the organisers moved the rally headquarters for the first time in WRC history. It relocated from Torsby, Värmland northwards to Umeå in Västerbotten County. The rally was initially scheduled to cover in nineteen special stages, but it was reduced to seventeen in a total of due to reindeer movements. Rally Italia Sardegna relocated its rally base back to Alghero following a one-off headquarter in Olbia for the 2021 event.
Calendar changes Rally New Zealand returned to the championship for the first time since . The rally had also secured a spot in the calendar in , but the event was not held in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rally Japan took the final spot in the calendar. It was scheduled as the final round in and , before being called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rally Mexico had contracts to hold the WRC event in 2022 and 2023, but the rally was not included on the calendar. A national event was held in the bid of a 2023 return. Rally Chile found itself in a similar situation to Mexico as their contract with WRC Promoter GmbH lasted till 2022. Chile had previously hosted the event in . Rally GB was bidding for a 2022 return as the event was planned to hold in Northern Ireland, but the proposal was ultimately failed.
Entrants The following teams, drivers and co-drivers contested the 2022 World Championship under Rally1 regulations. All crews use tyres provided by Pirelli. +ManufacturerEntrantCarNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsFord M-Sport Ford WRTFord Puma Rally116 Adrien Fourmaux Alexandre CoriaAll19 Sébastien Loeb Isabelle Galmiche1, 4, 6, 1042 Craig Breen Paul Nagle1–12 James Fulton1344 Gus Greensmith Jonas Andersson2–3, 5, 7–13Hyundai Hyundai Shell Mobis WRTHyundai i20 N Rally12 Oliver Solberg Elliott Edmondson1–3, 6–9, 116 Dani Sordo Cándido Carrera4–5, 10, 12–138 Ott Tänak Martin JärveojaAll11 Thierry Neuville Martijn WydaegheAllToyota Toyota Gazoo Racing WRTToyota GR Yaris Rally11 Sébastien Ogier Benjamin Veillas1, 4, 6, 11–12 Vincent Landais134 Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm2–3, 5, 7–1033 Elfyn Evans Scott MartinAll69 Kalle Rovanperä Jonne HalttunenAll Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NGToyota GR Yaris Rally118 Takamoto Katsuta Aaron JohnstonAllSources: The below crews were not entered to score manufacturer points and were entered in Rally1 cars as privateers or under arrangement with the manufacturers. +ManufacturerEntrantCarNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsFord M-Sport Ford WRTFord Puma Rally17 Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais3–5, 7–8, 10, 129 Jourdan Serderidis Frédéric Miclotte6, 10, 12–1337 Lorenzo Bertelli Simone Scattolin2 Lorenzo Granai1144 Gus Greensmith Jonas Andersson1, 4, 668 Jari Huttunen Mikko Lukka8Sources:
Team changes All three constructors entered the championship with brand new cars: M-Sport entered the championship with a new car based on the Ford Puma crossover, named Ford Puma Rally1. Hyundai switched the i20 Coupé platform for the i20 N to race with. Toyota also replaced the third-gen Toyota Yaris for the GR Yaris.
For the first three years life-cycle of Rally1 regulations, they would keep the Global Race Engine architecture (Inline 4-cylinder, 1.6 litre, direct injection turbo).
Driver changes
M-Sport expanded their programme from two regular crews to three full-time entries. The British team was led by Craig Breen and Paul Nagle, who signed a two-year full-time contract. However, Breen and Nagle parted away as Nagle announced his retirement from full-time competition after the 2022 Rally Catalunya. James Fulton joined alongside Breen from the 2022 Rally Japan onwards. Gus Greensmith remained with the team and would again contest a full campaign. He was co-driven by Jonas Andersson. Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria were also retained with the team. Nine-time World Champion Sébastien Loeb joined the team with new co-driver Isabelle Galmiche to compete at selected events. Extra cars also entered at selected events, sharing-driven by the crew led by Lorenzo Bertelli and Pierre-Louis Loubet, who was confirmed to be co-driven once again with Vincent Landais. M-Sport long-time customer Jourdan Serderidis, who became the first privateer to buy a Rally1 car, also shared the seat.
Hyundai retained the crew of Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja and of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe as their two full-time competitors. Oliver Solberg stepped up into the Hyundai manufacturer team to share the third car with the crew led by Dani Sordo. Andrea Adamo left his role as team principal. Solberg's program came to a halt after the 2022 Rally New Zealand due to a series of inconsistent performances.
Toyota renewed contracts with the crew of Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin and of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen. Eight-time World Champion Sébastien Ogier had also announced his intention to retire from the sport at the end of . Later he decided to only contest selected events of the 2022 season. This restricted his chances of winning a ninth championship title. Ogier had previously planned to retire at the end of the 2020 championship, but the disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the reduced number of events in 2020 prompted him to reconsider. Benjamin Veillas became Ogier's new co-driver following the retirement of Julien Ingrassia at the end of the 2021 championship. However, their partnership came to an end after the victory in Spain, with Landais replacing Veillas in Japan. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm, who previously drove for Toyota from to , returned to the team to share the third car with Ogier and Veillas. Takamoto Katsuta again contested a full campaign in a fourth car, this time under the new entrant Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Next Generation, with Aaron Johnston becoming his co-driver on a full-time basis.
Regulation changes Technical regulations The championship introduced a new set of technical regulations known as "Rally1" to replace the World Rally Car. The Rally1 regulations placed a greater emphasis on standardised parts than in previous years to make the sport more accessible.
Rally1 was also introduced hybrid drivetrains to the sport for the first time. This took the form of an e-motor that produces fitted to current 1.6 L turbocharged inline-4 engine and must be used to power the car when travelling around service parks and through built-up areas when driving between stages. Drivers were free to use the e-motor to offer additional power when competing in a stage, with the FIA dictating how much power can be used and how long a driver can deploy it for. The hybrid system and the software governing its use will be standardised for three years as a way of keeping the costs of competing down. The system was provided by Compact Dynamics, a subsidiary of Formula E team Audi Sport ABT supplier Schaeffler.
The championship was also introduced with a standardised safety structure in a bid to improve safety standards. This coincided with the homologation requirements being re-written to allow teams to enter a scaled chassis based on production cars rather than having to adapt a chassis to fit a roadgoing model.
Sporting regulations The eligibility requirements for crews entering events were simplified and streamlined into a system called the "FIA Rally Pyramid". The top tier of the sport was known as "Rally1". The second tier, "Rally2", was for manufacturer teams and professional independent teams in WRC2. This was followed by "Rally3" for privately entered and "gentlemen driver" crews competing in the WRC3. "Rally4" and "Rally5" entries would not contest their own dedicated championship, but would be permitted to enter WRC rallies.
Specific liaison sections in which Rally1 competitors must drive in full electric mode was introduced into the championship. Following calls from WRC manufacturers, time penalty for competitors who missed a special stage due to hybrid issue was reduced from ten minutes to two minutes from the 2022 Croatia Rally onwards.
Season report Opening rounds