The first chapter of the new challenge of the Fia World Rally Championship (WRC) opens with the ninetieth edition of the Monte-Carlo Rally, scheduled until 23 January with the official teams (Hyundai, Toyota and Ford) ready to go with the new was a hybrid of Rally1.
Rally Monte-Carlo: lots of news for the crews
The Monte-Carlo Rally is one of the most challenging and unpredictable events on the WRC calendar, given the always uncertain conditions that the crews are invited to face. The 2022 edition of the rally features a new service park located on the Monaco waterfront instead of the cool city of Gap, which has been the basis of the event since 2014.
The crews will find themselves having to manage other innovations and changes, with almost 95% of the route changed compared to that of 2021.
The three-day competition program
At the end of the three days of reconnaissance, the real race kicked off on Thursday with the opening ceremony in the iconic Piazza del Casino which was followed by two timed trials.
Friday pushes the brand new Rally1 cars to the limit, with an itinerary of six special stages without a mid-day stop. In fact, there will be only one possibility to change tires along the almost 100 kilometers of mountain tests. Saturday is characterized by five even more demanding tests covering a distance of 92.46 km. Also in this case there are no stops, with the crews engaged to face four other tests in the Alps to determine the final positions.
What you need to know about new hybrids
The Rally1 are equipped with a 1.6-liter turbo 380 hp heat engine (derived from that of the Wrc Plus) combined with an electric unit of 100 kW (134 hp) and 180 Nm of torque powered by a 3.9 kWh battery that allows drive about 20 km in 100% electric mode.
The Compact Dynamics hybrid unit weighs about 84 kg and is classified as P3, i.e. the electric motor works downstream of the gearbox on the drive shaft. The batteries are supplied by Kreisel Electric, a partner company of Compact Dynamics based in Austria.
The union of the two engines ends a maximum power of about 514 horsepower. In the braking and release phases, as in all electrified cars, the system instead recovers the energy and with this recharges the battery. If necessary, the battery can be recharged from the outside (it is a plug-in Hybrid in effect) during the service park. It will take about 20 minutes to recharge from 20 to 80%.
Three driving modes
The Rally1 mapping includes three modes of use: Full Electric, which allows you to travel up to 20 km in 100% electric mode. It will be mandatory to use this mode in certain areas highlighted in the road-book with the name “Hybrid Electric Vehicle Zones – Hevz”, or service parks, in the areas surrounding the start and finish of the event and built-up areas. The Stage Start Mode is a sort of starting system that offers the driver maximum power. Finally, the Stage Mode which in turn includes three maps (with specific configuration for long or short tests) that allow you to make the most of the 100 kW of power.