FIA decided today that competitors will receive less time penalties than before in case of retiring due to hybrid failures.
The Motor Sport Council was held today and, according to Andrew Wheatley [FIA rally director], FIA would examine the hybrid sporting regulations again after Hyundai's and Toyota's complaints as he stated earlier this week.
More specifically, Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans were forced to retire and to skip some stages in Sweden on Friday and on Sunday respectively due to hybrid issues.
However, due to the fact that Evans retired on the last day of Rally Sweden he could not restart under the regulations of Rally2 in comparison with Tanak who retired on Friday and was able to restart on Saturday morning.
In addition to that, the hybrid regulations were unfair as some drivers could continue their race despite their hybrid problems whereas others are forced to retire due to problems with the hybrid unit.
Therefore, FIA decided to decrease the time penalties and from now the competitors will be taken a two-minute time penalty for each stage they are missing in comparison with the ten-minute penalty that was in effect until the end of Rally Sweden.
Finally, the teams will have one extra day on their development test programs.
These new rules will be implemented with immediate effect from Rally Croatia.
Photo Credits: Toyota
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