How do you turn a PR disaster into a winning strategy for the future of a racing series? Well, you could do worse than look at what the World Rallycross organisers have done over the course of 2024.

“There was an almost equal split of teams persevering with electric or reverting to petrol”

Readers may remember the images that were splashed across the internet of the massive fire that ripped through Sébastien Loeb’s Special One team garage at the Lydden Hill round of the World RX in 2023. It destroyed virtually every team asset including both Lancia Delta Evo-e cars and their transporter. But the real damage was done to the reputation of the series.

The previous year WRX had announced that it was switching to battery power – a move that chimed well with the imperative to create sustainable motor racing. However, the investigation into the Lydden fire confirmed that the blaze started in one vehicle’s high-voltage battery while it was charging. Until the exact problem could be identified, and fixed, the electric RX1 fleet was sidelined and the championship leaders fought out the remaining rounds of the season in less powerful RX2e cars.

It was far from ideal, but for the 2024 season World RX came up with a clever reshuffle to turn disaster into triumph: the Battle of Technologies. Rather than outlaw electric drivetrains entirely which would backflip the series to 2021, combustion-powered cars would be welcomed back into the top tier alongside existing electric racers pitting EVs against ICE in a world’s first mixed racing series.

The season came to an end in November with Swedish driver Johan Kristoffersson claiming an unprecedented seventh World Rallycross Championship title (five consecutively 2020-24) in Istanbul. He was in a sustainable-fuel ICE-powered car but over the course of the season the two powertrains had been evenly matched.

Part of the performance parity comes down to carefully structured restrictions on the respective tech. With their 53kWh batteries and twin motors, the electric racers weigh 160kg more than the 2-litre turbo four-cylinder cars, but have more power to offset the difference with 680bhp versus 600bhp. With muscle and traction in abundance both engineering approaches allow 0-60mph acceleration in less than 2sec – faster than a current Formula 1 car.

The closeness in the competition comes down to the different strengths of each respective powertrain. While the lighter petrol cars have the upper hand in tight, complex circuits such as Mettet or Hong Kong’s street circuit, the heavier electrics have more straightline speed and an advantage at Portugal’s Montalegre, which has one of the longest straights in the season, for example.

That circuit also introduces another challenge for combustion cars with 1000m of altitude-sapping power with less dense air. However, thinner air can cause cooling issues for the EV battery which is more sensitive to extremes of hot and cold with a narrower operating temperature.

“I’d still choose electric because  I believe that is the future”

You might argue that difference in performance characteristics leaves the outcome of a race more dependant on a technological selection rather than a test of driving skill and strategy but in many ways the greater number of variables makes the racing less predictable and more interesting. The real testament to equality on track is perhaps best highlighted by an almost equal split of teams persevering with electric or reverting back to petrol.

One of those who stuck with EV rather than switching to internal combustion in 2024 is Hansen Motorsport. Susann Hansen, the team manager, says that the move to electric was inevitable and, given the scale of the investment, switching back to petrol was not an option.

“We made the biggest investment in our lives in these battery kits,” she said. “When it turned out that we will switch the championship to a Battle of Technologies, we were on electric already and that’s what we had to stay with.”

However, Hansen explained that even given the chance to swap, the team would stick with battery power.

“I would still choose electric because  I believe that is the future,” she says. “That’s where we’re heading.”

Hansen explained that electric power is not just future-proofed from an emissions and carbon perspective but the relative silence of an electric car brings other versatilities offsetting any disadvantage in the lack of exhaust note.

“Not only you can bring your dog or your children, you will not disturb your neighbours, so maybe we can increase the running times on the circuits, and maybe we can take rallycross into the city centres.”

It’s a different perspective over in the KMS-Horse Powertrain garage and where crowned World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson’s Volkswagen has no shortage of traditional noise. Although it runs on petrol, the fuel is specially blended using 70% bio-ethanol by ETS Racing Fuels and allows a similarly small carbon footprint as the electric cars (depending on how the electricity is generated).

The Swedish driver has extensive experience racing cars powered by both electric and petrol and when asked what he prefers, he has an instant response: “To win,” he says.

Ultimately it was a petrol car that prevailed in 2024 with another World RX championship for Kristoffersson and, with a 43-point lead (he won 50% of the rounds) over electric Kevin Hansen, the Otto cycle is clearly working for him. But despite the environmental advantages of the Battle of Technologies, Kristoffersson believes the audience is more interested in good racing and being entertained.

“I think for some fans, they clearly like the sound but most don’t care if it’s blue or black smoke. They just want to come here and they want to enjoy what they see.”

“Maybe we can increase the running times  and take rallycross into the city centres”

The return of combustion power into a previously exclusively electric series is also a microcosm representative of what’s happening on a larger scale, in motor sport and on the road. With the advent of powerful, efficient electric powertrains, many plotted a trajectory to a utopian future where EVs eventually replaced petrol and diesel. Indeed, many manufacturers have pledged end-dates for combustion engines. But once-consistent EV sales have stalled and it’s now clear that there’s not just one solution that will solve our transport sustainability challenges. It’s a sentiment reflected by FIA World Rallycross managing director Arne Dirks.

“This season’s championship really showcases the current discussions that are there, especially in Europe and USA when it comes to what will be the future technology. It was a lot of EVs in the last years, and we see this changing now that some of the manufacturers go back or suddenly introduce ICE cars as well. Having both, we really show just what there will be in the future.”

So while it’s unlikely an entire genre of motor sport will ever completely convert to electric, it’s more realistic to expect each series to naturally find its own balance of electric, petrol, diesel, hydrogen or perhaps something else as the technology under the bonnet battles to prove itself, just as the drivers fight it out at the wheel.