Following a recent Rallies Committee meeting, proposed changes have been outlined regarding the eligibility of ‘modified’ Rally2/R5 vehicles and other Category 2 vehicles based on FIA Appendix J Article 261 designs.
This change would see any vehicle that was either homologated and originally constructed as a Rally2 or R5 vehicle by the original manufacturer, or with a body shell constructed according to a manufacturer’s homologated design, prohibited from being modified to Category 2 regulations.
Under the current regulations, vehicles that have been granted a Category 2 passport can compete in Class 2 on Stage Rallies. Vehicles that already hold a Category 2 passport would be permitted to continue competing in Class 2 for the life of the vehicle.
For vehicles currently in the planning or build stage, the following deadlines are proposed:
- 31st December 2026 – deadline to submit an application to start the Category 2 process.
- 1st March 2027 – deadline for Motorsport UK’s Technical Team to receive the completed application.
Applications that are incomplete or missing the required information will not be accepted within the proposed timeline.
Further to the above, it is proposed that all modified Rally2/R5 vehicles in Class 2 must run a 32mm turbo restrictor.
The aim of these proposed changes is to preserve Class 1 as the highest-performance category in Stage Rallying, without unnecessarily affecting other Class 2 vehicles based on road cars.
We encourage Scrutineers to familiarise themselves with the proposals and the consultation document, particularly if they’re involved with vehicles currently being built or prepared for Category 2 eligibility.