Following their latest meeting on Thursday, the FIA World Motor Sport Council approved a restructured European Historic Rally Championship for the 2026 season.

The series will consist of three trophies: the Pre-1992 Championship, the Pre-2000 Championship, and a new 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,” explains the federation.

“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.”

Each championship is further split by category to ensure cars are competing against those similar to each other, a policy that already exists. For example, Category 1 is for road-legal cars built between 1931 and 1957 and is then divided into Classes 1A (engines up to 1300 cubic centimeters), 1B (1301–1600 cm³), and 1C (over 1600 cm³). Four such categories exist to account for various eras: Category 2 is for cars between 1970 and 1975, Category 3 for 1976–1981, and Category 4 for 1982 to 1992 with cutoffs depending on homologation. Cat 4 also has subclasses for two- and four-wheel drives.

Last October, the FIA loosened the vintage racing regulations for 2025 to permit cars built in the 1990s and as late as 2000. It had been a quarter century since the turn of the millennium after all, thereby making cars from the ’90s retro (a revelation that will probably haunt many of us). Previously, such vehicles were only allowed to enter FIA-sanctioned demonstrations or race outside the federation’s jurisdiction.

This relaxation opened the door for Period K, referring to all race cars regardless of discipline that were produced between 1993 and 2000. In the case of rallying, a Period K car would be a World Rally Car homologated in 1997–2000 or a kit car from 1995–2000.

“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,” the FIA continued. “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 organizers.”

The 2025 FIA European Historic Rally Championship is currently nine races into its ten-round season, with the most recent—the Rally de Asturias Histórico in Spain—taking place this past week. The season will end with the Portuguese Historic Rally Fafe on November 7–8.

Thursday’s WMSC meeting mostly focused on sustainable energy and environmental impact. For example, the Cross-Country Rally Commission agreed to have the Challenger and SSV classes get their fuel from either a commercial gas station or from a central hub put on by the race organizer.

Featured image credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing