The Latest Breaking News from WRC

The new retail sector action plan has been welcomed by union and retail trade bodies

The championship had hoped to roll out a 14-round schedule for this season, although plans to add an event in the Middle East failed to come to fruition.

The move arrives following Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville’s comments prior to last weekend’s Rally Portugal where he called for the WRC to “react” after stating that rallying’s top tier is at a critical point and requires change to appeal to fans and attract new manufacturers.

The Toksport Skoda driver had dominated the second tier WRC class in Portugal having built up a 35.4s lead over team-mate Gus Greensmith at the end of Saturday.

The Toyota driver produced an head turning display despite being disadvantaged by road position to end the day leading Hyundai’s Dani Sordo by 10.8s. Rovanpera won three of the day’s eight stages to become the fourth different leader of the event to date.

The Toyota driver went off the road 13.8 kilometres into stage seven (Mortagua, 18.5km) while occupying sixth position after difficult day opening the gravel roads.

The Toyota driver went off the road 13.8 kilometres into stage seven (Mortagua, 18.5km) while occupying sixth position after difficult day opening the gravel roads.

Hyundai signed Breen to share its third factory i20 N alongside veteran Sordo this season. The latter has been a mainstay of the squad since the marque's return to the WRC in 2014, moving to a part-time role in 2018.

Rallying’s top flight has attempted to attract new marques in recent years, and this was one of the key objectives behind the introduction of its Rally1 hybrid regulations last year.