In international

rallying Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

, Group R-GT (or sometimes Group RGT), is a formula of rally car defined by the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

for GT cars introduced in 2011. Between 2014 and 2019 technical passports were issued for individual vehicles built by tuners. Since 2020 R-GT cars are required to be homologated by the manufacturer in common with other rally car formulae. Internationally, R-GT cars compete in the FIA R-GT Cup, which is contested on tarmac rounds of the ERC and WRC. They are also eligible for the World Rally Championship and all the FIA's regional championships.

Technical regulations

The technical regulations are described in 2019 Appendix J, article 256 of the FIA sporting regulations for cars with technical passports. For homologated cars since 2020 the relevant document is 2021 Appendix J, article 256. In both cases the cars must be

series production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and bat ...

GT cars that must be

two-wheel drive Two-wheel-drive (2WD) denotes vehicles with a drivetrain that allows two wheels to be driven, and receive power and torque from the engine, simultaneously. Four-wheeled vehicles For four-wheeled vehicles (and by extension, vehicles with six, eig ...

n. A car with

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer ca ...

can be used as a basis but must be transformed into a 2WD version. All cars must be fitted with a restrictor with a diameter determined by the FIA in order to achieve a weight/power ratio of 3.4 kg/ hp (4.6 kg/kw, 294bhp/tonne).

History

Lotus Exige R-GT homologation

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

presented an R-GT version of their Exige S at the

Frankfurt Motor Show The International Motor Show Germany or International Mobility Show Germany, in German known as the ''Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung'' (''IAA'' – International Automobile Exhibition), is one of the world's largest mobility shows. It cons ...

2011, but it wasn't until July 2012 before they achieved FIA homologation for what was the first car to compete in the R-GT category. The competition debut took place at the end of July at

Rally Vinho da Madeira The Rali Vinho da Madeira is a tarmac rally held in Madeira Island, Portugal, and it is the biggest annual sporting event of the island, bringing thousands of people into the roads to watch the drivers compete through the hilly terrain and the natur ...

, with Portuguese driver Bernardo Sousa driving the car. After posting stage times in the top ten for the first two special stages, the car retired in the third stage because of an accident caused by an electronics glitch. After that, there were no further appearances of the Exige R-GT in international rallies and the homologation period lapsed in 2019.

Technical passports for individual cars

Between 2014 and 2019, the FIA issues technical passports for individual cars that are prepared to comply with the R-GT regulations. The first such appearance was

Marc Duez Marc Duez (born 18 April 1957 in Verviers) is a race and rally driver from Belgium. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring several times, and also the 24 Hours Spa. Duez also has competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (fren ...

who entered a

Porsche 996 The Porsche 996 is the internal designation for the 911 model manufactured by the German automaker Porsche from 1997 until 2006. It was replaced by the 997 in 2004, but the high performance Turbo S, GT2 and GT3 variants remained in production ...

GT3 for the 2014 Monte Carlo Rally. He achieved some respectable stage times, but was forced to retire on the last day. At the 2014 Rallye Deutschland, Richard Tuthill entered with a modified

Porsche 997 Porsche 997 is the internal designation for the Porsche 911 sports car manufactured and sold by the German automobile manufacturer Porsche between 2004 (as Model Year 2005) and 2013. Production of the Carrera and Carrera S coupés began in ear ...

and finished as 27th (of 63 classified), thus realising the first finish of a Porsche at a WRC event since 1986.

FIA R-GT Cup

In 2015 the FIA organised the first international cup for R-GT cars. The first season was competed on five tarmac events of the WRC and ERC:

Rallye Monte-Carlo The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeast ...

Ypres Rally The Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally (BYWR) founded by Frans Thévelin in 1965 is one of the most famous rallies in the European Rally Championship, the Belgian Rally Championship, the British Rally Championship, and the Intercontinental Rally Chal ...

Rallye Deutschland The ADAC Rallye Deutschland is a rally event held in Germany. The event was first held in 1982 and originally hosted by e.g. Frankfurt, Mainz and Koblenz. In 2000, the rally was relocated to the region around Trier. Previously part of the Europ ...

Rallye International du Valais The Rallye International du Valais is a yearly rally in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It was founded by Philippe Simonetta, a local wine dealer in 1960. Since 1980 it has been part of the European Rally Championship and in 2007 and 2008 it ...

and

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, ...

. The championship was won by

François Delecour François Delecour (born 30 August 1962) is a French rally driver. Biography Career in World Rally Championship François Delecour began rallying in 1981, in the French national championship. He entered his first major event, the Monte Carlo R ...

in a Tuthill-prepared

. In 2016 the R-GT cup was not contested due to a lack of participants but interest rose again in 2017 with the introduction of the Abarth 124 R-GT. The first event of the 2017 FIA R-GT Cup, the 2017 Monte Carlo Rally, saw 4 participants in the R-GT category.

Abarth 124 R-GT

At the 2016

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by t ...

the Abarth 124 Spider R-GT car was presented, and later made its debut at the 2017 Monte Carlo Rally. The entrants were

, Fabio Andolfi and Gabriele Noberasco. Two of the Abarths had to retire, but Noberasco classified second in the R-GT class. Since 2019 the Abarth Rally Cup has run as a one-make series on selected rounds of the

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship has b ...

. Title winners since its inaugural year have been Andrea Nucita (2019), Andrea Mabellini (2020) and Dariusz Poloński (2021).

Alpine A110 R-GT

The Alpine A110 Rally was announced in May 2019 and officially presented during the Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine (5-7 September 2019). It was homologated by the FIA to Group R-GT specification in July 2020 and remains the only homologated R-GT car as of November 2021.

Champions

FIA R-GT Cup

Other starts in international rallies

Starts in R-GT Cup events are covered by the corresponding R-GT Cup season article and not listed below.

Notes

References

{{World Rally Championship results World Rally Championship Rally groups Racing car classes *