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ERC Historic

Latvala is the best driver by far and drives one of the newest cars accepted by the championship - which is AWD vs mostly RWD cars.
Dumas is a good asphalt rally driver but not on Latvala's level, and drives a 70's Porsche. The only other drivers I recognize outside of the Historic championship bubble are Johansson (did few WRC events in the 2005 with private Impreza WRC), Tony Fassina (winner of WRC Sanremo '79 with a private Stratos, he's now 79 years old!).
Then there's Rosenberger and Madeira but they are not eligible because I guess they drive too modern cars (and they were miles behind Latvala anyway).
 
Speaking of historic cars, two weeks ago I was spectating the second round of European Historic Rally Championship, Vltava Rallye in Czech Republic. On rough and damaged tarmac some of those historic drivers were driving very carefully, but on the hairpin bends in the mountains those cars looked and sounded very good. Unfortunately, there was not much fight, because Latala won all but one stage :)

Here is my short photo gallery from this event:
https://www.ewrc-results.com/photo/92146-smucler-historic-vltava-rallye-2025/473/
 
Latvala won 5 stages out of 8 at Rallye d'Antibes but then retired on the 9th and final stage for electrical issues, he had 1m 06s gap on the 2nd.
 
Not sure what joy JML will be getting from this series as obviously head and shoulders above the rest of the field both experience and machinery wise. I think some of the drivers would be better off doing demo events like Eifel Rallye certainly some of the cars with original provenance must be getting too expensive to risk in full competition.
 
I think he really enjoys driving his Celica, I guess that he still prefers to do timed stages instead of shows like Eifel. Historic ERC doesn't have a high level of competition, but it's still the highest historic rally competition there is, no much choice.
On another note, Jari-Matti never won a title in his career, if I were him (or other top WRC drivers who never won titles, like Hirvonen) I'd also try something like that. I'd rather see him in ERC, but he can't drive his Celica there :D
 
Think the same, no pressure. Also experiencing new rallies in Europe with a nice schedule, mostly around 10 rallies.

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focus206 said:
On another note, Jari-Matti never won a title in his career, if I were him (or other top WRC drivers who never won titles, like Hirvonen) I'd also try something like that.
Click to expand...

Yes, we were talking about it with my friends when we were watching him on the Historic Vltava Rallye. Latvala was once one of the best drivers of the world, but he has actually never won any title. Maybe he just wants to put some cup on a shelf at home finally ;)

And this result shows that he is still too fast to sit at home :)
https://www.ewrc-results.com/final/85534-secto-rally-finland-2024/
 
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focus206 said:
I saw that as well... weird to have 3 terminal problems in a row, is the team doing something wrong? Some wrong knowledge of an old machinery? Celicas didn't use to be so unreliable...
Click to expand...
In Ypres I think he said that by solving a problem they created another that caused that retirement. Strange as they are a very experienced team I think, and I would believe that knowledge transfer from Toyota would not be an issue for them.
 
Bold new era for the FIA European Historic Rally Championship

The World Council has approved a comprehensive reorganisation of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship (EHRC) for the 2026 season, marking the start of a bold new era for historic rallying in Europe.

From 2026, the EHRC will consist of three core championships, all maintained under the FIA EHRC umbrella:

The FIA ERHC Pre-1992 Championship
The FIA EHRC Pre-2000 Championship
The FIA EHRC Gravel Championship

The restructure meets a rising demand for a dedicated gravel championship, reducing the logistical burden of converting cars between gravel and asphalt, allowing competitors to focus on their preferred surface within the FIA’s historic rally framework.

While the introduction of the Pre-2000 category responds to the growing number of competitors with Period K cars, by separating these more advanced 1993–2000 models from the pre-1992 Category 4 cars, enthusiasts from both eras can compete under fairer and more balanced conditions within the championship.

The 2026 Sporting Regulations governing the three new championships have also been approved by the World Motor Sport Council, with minor amendments introduced to improve consistency and accuracy across the regulations. New categories within the Pre-2000 Championship have been established to better reflect the classification of that period, while updates to FIA Appendix K have been adopted to enhance clarity and readability for both competitors and organisers.
 
Its interesting but inevitable that Historic championships always struggle to balance the involvement of crews with "newer" machinery with the wants of those competing with cars from earlier eras. The UK was a prime example where MK2 Escorts weren't allowed to compete for a number of years and the championship was the domain of the Porsche 911 and the likes of Minis and Saab 96s.
 
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