The FIA recently announced some major changes set to take effect in the top level of rallycross for the 2026 season. One of the biggest is the World Championship being put on hiatus until at least 2028, and the other is the exclusion of EVs from the series. Both changes are in response to a lack of entries, presumably due to the high costs of the electric RX1e cars the series had been using since 2022.
Although the World Championship is on hold, there will still be high level competition in the form of the European Rallycross Championship. If most of the World drivers move over to it, we could see a very competitive grid lining up! There is also an annual World Cup race in the planning stages as well, so we may see that for the next two years.
The shift also means a switch away from electric and back to the familiar internal combustion Supercar/RX1 regulations. While the electric cars were impressive machines, the cost to convert (300,000 Euros for just the electric kit) put them out of the reach of many teams. That, along with the lack of other championships to run them in, resulted in very low entries over the last few years.
If all the plans come together, the World Championship will be returning in 2028 with a cheaper car. The World Rally Championship is working on finalizing a cheaper alternative to their current cars, and the plan is to use those regulations as the basis for a cheaper form of rallycross as well. There's quite a bit of time between now and then though, so a lot could change! It'll be interesting to see how things will work out.