Jerome Roussel: FIA interested in South American Baja Cup, update of stock and SSV regulations

South America has long been known as a rally hotbed, hosting the 2010 Dakar Rally and hosting some of the most competitive national championships in countries such as Brazil and Argentina. I am talking with News from off-road rallies last weekend in Baja Greece, FIA cross-country rally manager Jérôme Roussel expressed interest in establishing a new one Baja Cup on the continent.

Unlike longer rallies, as seen in World Rally ChampionshipBaja is a two-day race. For such events, the FIA ​​currently maintains a global limit FIA Baja World Cup as well as regional Baja European Cup AND Middle East Baja Cup. Roussel intends to attend the upcoming W2RC Desafío Ruta 40 competition in Argentina to gauge interest in starting the championship there; The DR 40 is the only FIA-sanctioned cyclocross rally in the Americas.

The South American championship includes Brazil Sertões series AND Campeonato Brasileiro in a cross-country rally and Argentina Campeonato Argentino de Rally y Navegación, and countries such as Paraguay and Peru also run national series. They take place on the continent every year in February South American Rallyand the 2024 edition will take place in Argentina.

“It is a great success that the European Cup now has its own customer base. Some drivers really focus on this. It is similar in the Middle East. We are seeing more and more drivers and a lot of names have emerged from the Regional Cups.” – Roussel said News from off-road rallies. “The next logical step would be to create something in South America. The good news is that I’m going to Argentina for Ruta 40 and we will have some conversations there with people from many countries who will come and we will have a discussion to see if we can prepare something for the South American market.”

Roussel also revealed himself CCRN that the FIA ​​plans to update its regulations for the Stock and SSV categories to further increase interest. Both classes are the production equivalents of the Ultimate and Challenger respectively, but therefore have much smaller grids.

Stock, formerly known as T2, has particularly suffered from entries in recent years. While there are plenty of off-road vehicles in production, from the Toyota Land Cruiser to the Nissan Patrol, it’s difficult to turn one into a race car, let alone do it while remaining compliant with regulations. Toyota Land Cruiser team body has won its class in the Dakar Rally every year since 2014, often because it is the only team entered. Stock was the smallest class in the 2024 Dakar with just three participants, two of which were Toyota Auto Body. It is slightly more popular in Bajas, although the bigger picture is still concerning enough to prompt the FIA ​​to take action. While the production cars will naturally be inferior to the Ultimate, Roussel hopes to at least narrow the gap between them to improve competition, also noting interest from manufacturers.

“We are creating new regulations for production vehicles” he continued. “The current T2s are not very competitive, especially if you look at the route that currently matches the T1+, so the new T2s will have more opportunities. It was the main job. The good news is that three manufacturers are really interested in developing the vehicles, so there may be new vehicles in the sport soon.”

Similarly, the SSV often pales in comparison to the Challenger. While grid sizes are still quite solid, it is still an expensive endeavor that the FIA ​​wants to tackle. Since the turn of the decade, side-by-side racing has grown exponentially in many off-road disciplines; Desert SSV racer Cayden MacCachren he said Checkered flag in April that this is because SSVs – available for both racing and recreational use – are more accessible to the general public than purpose-built racing vehicles.

“We wanted to have simpler, closer to production vehicles, so the chassis will remain standard and many of the parts will remain standard.” – Roussel explained. “It’s really about controlling costs and avoiding too high-end SxS, so that’s the idea behind the new standard SSV regulations.”

The debate over SSV also concerns the potential to lower the age limit below the current eighteen years. The FIA ​​enforces a minimum driving age by combining competition driving licenses with driving licenses, which are generally eighteen years of age worldwide with some exceptions. However, in some countries, SSV driving licenses, which Roussel says are legally comparable to driving a tractor or quad bike, are issued to younger drivers.

“If you are entitled to drive an SSV on public roads before the age of eighteen and hold a special driving licence, there should be no reason why you cannot take part in FIA competitions.” – Roussel said, “but we will need more time to study it. This is possible in rallies in some countries, so there is no reason why we can’t achieve it.

The FIA Cross-Country Rally Commission plans to submit its proposals to World Motor Sport Council at the next meeting on June 12, while the committee will meet in early September to determine the details for 2025.