Rally4 is the new name for R2 when it comes to rallying regulations, and it was the Ford Fiesta Rally4 that was the first car built to the new specifications before Peugeot revealed their new car – the 208 Rally4.
Despite the recent COVID-19 pandemic however, these two-wheel drive cars have continued to remain popular when it comes to compeitors in rallying around Europe.
At Rally Hungary for example last weekend, Ken Torn took M-Sport’s 50th victory in the Rally4 (R2) category, much of which is down to the Cumbrian team’s Polish division.
The car which originally started life as the turbocharged R2-T, also has drivers competing with it in both the ERC3 and Junior ERC3 classes and it’s also used as a single-make car in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship.
When taking into account the number of upgraded R2T19s upgraded to the newer regulations, M-Sport say they’ve sold 140 cars so far in total.
Peugeot Sport, like M-Sport, have also been busy with their new car despite the pandemic. In the Spanish, Portuguese and French national rally championships, they are also running single-make classes for their cars.
Many cars have been built despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, although in the aforementioned France, the series was cancelled due to the majority of the events being cancelled in the early stages of the pandemic. Pedro Antunes did however take the victory in the Spanish / Portuguese Iberica series.
Earlier this week, Peugeot Sport shipped out its first car to a customer in Peru, which marked the first Rally4 Peugeot to be sold outside of Europe. As well as that, they say they’ve so far sold 80 cars since launch, with more customers expected over the winter.
The third car model to be launched in the class is the Opel Corsa Rally4, which is based on the development of the similar PCA Group Peugeot. The car is built by Opel with the basic idea of it being a relativley cheap option for both drivers and teams who want to compete in the sport. The delivery of the car is expected to start next year.
