M-Sport is continuing the development of its 2027 World Rally Championship challenger at this weekend’s European Rally Championship finale in Portugal.
The British squad will field an example of its newly developed Ford Fiesta Rally2 kit car at the ERC Rally Six Cities North of Portugal gravel event. The updated Rally2 car, featuring the FIA’s new update kit, broke cover last week courtesy of a week-long test on asphalt in Spain with the driving split between Matthew Wilson and M-Sport’s WRC2 driver Romet Jurgenson.
Testing is set to continue this week with Josh McErlean taking over the wheel for an outing on Portuguese gravel stages, running as the ERC course car. The Irishman has been a regular in M-Sport-Ford’s WRC Rally1 programme driving a Ford Puma Rally1 car in the championship since 2025. However, McErlean’s future with the team beyond this year is yet to be determined.
M-Sport is the first squad to commit to developing a kit to upgrade its Ford Fiesta Rally2 car to Rally1 status, with the team targeting a three-car line-up for the 2027 campaign.
Earlier this year the FIA announced plans to introduce a concept that will allow Rally2 manufacturers to homologate an upgrade kit, costing €7,500, to offer “greater aerodynamic parity” between Rally2 cars and the all-new WRC27 vehicles that will form the WRC’s top Rally1 class next year. The WRC27 and Rally2 kit cars are built to two separate technical regulations and are expected to produce similar levels of performance.
The kit includes new homologated front fenders, a front bumper and a rear aerodynamic device, while the car will also shed 10kg from the current minimum weight. It has also recently been confirmed that the car will run a 33mm turbo restrictor, which was ratified at this week’s FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting.
Hyundai tests revised Rally2 car in Finland
Hyundai has also been in action this week, developing its revised i20 N Rally2 car on gravel roads in Finland.
WRC rally winners Kris Meeke and Hayden Paddon were joined by Adrien Fourmaux to put the car through its paces. Images of the car in action didn’t highlight any noticeable exterior changes.
Hyundai is yet to make any announcement regarding its plans for 2027. The squad has however been focused on developing its Rally2 car but has so far steered clear from committing to developing the FIA’s update kit to up-spec the car to Rally1 status for next year.